


Baby Nine-Nine

by b99xperaltiago



Series: Baby Nine-Nine [1]
Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: (like years in the future), F/F, F/M, Future Fic, Light Angst, M/M, Mostly Fluff, and a little comedy too, here and there, i have an issue with my obession with this show!, next generation kinda thing, title may change
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2019-08-18 17:57:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 26,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16521935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/b99xperaltiago/pseuds/b99xperaltiago
Summary: The squad once declared they'd always be there for each other no matter what. They were like family after all. But inevitably they ended up drifting apart from each other. So after an old friend of theirs resurfaces, their kids make it their personal mission to bring the old friends back together.





	1. Leah Peralta

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I need to make four quick points before we start:
> 
> 1: Thanks to @Natalie_Carson for telling me to publish this story. I was a little nervous too, but here it goes anyway. (Also, go an check out her stories, she is my favourite author! Her stories are amazing!)
> 
> 2: On the same sort of note, I really don't know what this story is. It came to my mind and I may have mentioned this before, I might not have, but when something comes to my mind, I have to do it or it will drive me nuts!
> 
> 3: I'm sorry about the summary and title. I struggled with it a bunch so I just quickly wrote one up. They both might change over time, depending on if I come up with better ideas.
> 
> 4: If their name is in the tags, I don't own them.

Straight after the school bell rings, marking the end of the day, I am quick to leave the school grounds. Not because I don't like being there, which is partly true on some days, but because today is the day I need to pick up my sister from pre-school. Luckily, it's only a block away. With two parents working full-time, their hours really vary. It is only really every few weeks that I have to collect Camila. It's nice though, due to the fact the boys don't get back for another hour, which is something I have always rubbed in their faces on that the high school finishes an hour before the elementary and middle schools because I get to have a bonding time with my little sister.

I turn on to the grounds and see Camila waiting patiently by the front door to the school. I knock and get buzzed in, to have Cam immediately at my feet.

"Thanks for keeping her overtime, it sucks that I can't be here straight after she finishes." I sigh, hugging my sister tightly as she grips my knees.

"That's fine, Leah, I'd much have Camila stay after than some of the boys here," Ms. Rilestone, Cam's pre-school teacher, lets out a small breathless laugh. "and it's not your fault your parents work full-time." She adds.

Camila pulls at my shirt. "Look, Leah, look what I did!" She holds up a giant-sized picture with a painting on.

I take it out of her hand and look at the giant and surprisingly good drawing she had done of our family. I smile. "That's great, Cam, well done." I hand her back the picture as she gleams up at me. I put my attention back to her teacher. "Thank you again, we'll get going so you can get home," I say with a small smile, leading Camila toward the door.

"My pleasure have a great evening you two and I'll see you tomorrow, Camila."

She turns at her name and waves her teacher goodbye as we walked up the path back on to the main street. Cam and I talk all the way home, her telling me all about her day, and how one of the boys at recess had asked her to be his girlfriend and how she had said yes. I laugh a little even though she tells me she is being serious.

"Well, wait until daddy hears," I say with a smile, knowing how protective Dad gets when it comes to either me or Cam.

I unlock the door and Camila bursts through, kicking off her shoes and leaving them by the door. I take mine off and knowing how OCD Mom can get, I place them both on the shoe rack in the hall. I walk through to the living room and see Cam kneeling down in front of the rabbit cage, poking her fingers through and by the facial expression on the bunny she was trying to pet, terrifying it to the core.

I laugh. "Cam, be careful, she isn't used to you yet," I instruct.

She looks up at me with her big brown puppy dog eyes and whimpers like a dog. "But I'm just stroking her."

I roll my eyes slightly and look down at my phone to see a missed call from Luna, my best and only real friend. I place my phone on the table, deciding to respond to it later because if I try to call her now, Cam will be all over my phone, trying to grab it from my hands. I spot a note left on the table next to where I left my phone, and I immediately knew it was written by my Dad.

_**Leah,** _

_**Thanks a bunch for picking Cam up after school (I hope you did remember!) The boys should all be back by 4, especially Marley. If the twins are a little later, don't fret. They are always home by 4:15 no matter what. It does depend on if they walked or took the bus. If they are any later, don't be shy to call your mom or me. But only call if there is an emergency! You'll freak your mom out again, and last time was not funny!** _

I smile slightly. You have no idea how funny the last time was in my mind, but as it turns out, Mom was in a meeting with the commissioner, so I got in a butt tonne of trouble after that. I continue to read.

**I should be home in time for dinner, but if not, try not to burn the house down. Just do something easy that doesn't require the use of the cooker.** _**There's some microwave pizzas in the freezer if you need them. If you don't feel like cooking just tell Cam when she nags that I'm making my mac & cheese later, that should shut her up. ** _

_**Good luck, thank you and see you later,** _

_**Dad x** _

I looked over at Cam to see her big brown eyes glaring up at me. She got to her feet when she noticed that I was looking at her and she moved over to my feet again. "When's dinner?" She asked quietly, in a sweet tone.

I sighed. "Already? We've only just got home!"

She giggled. "But I'm hungry!" She whined.

I looked back own at the note to see another message beneath the note.

_**(PS. There are some granola bars in the cupboard and fruit in the bowl in the kitchen if she whines.)** _

I let out a slight laugh at how well dad could anticipate something like that.

"Daddy's making mac and cheese tonight, but he said you can have something small from the kitchen."

Cam let out a small excited scream, racing toward the kitchen. I followed her through, asking her which of the two options she would prefer and two minutes of deciding later, she chose the granola bar. She ran back into the living room and sat on the couch, demanding Peppa Pig on the TV. I sighed and gave in, allowing her to watch it, so I put it on for her. I had homework to do anyway.

About an hour later, I had finished my homework and had successfully negotiated with Cam, her allowing me to put on a movie that I promised she would enjoy. I had loved it since I was her age, and after ten minutes, she was completely engrossed in the film.

There was a knock at the door and it got me out of the severe trance I had fallen into while watching Toy Story. I got up and saw that Cam hadn't been affected by the door and was still happily smiling at the TV. I opened the door and Marley greeted me with a huge smile.

"Hi, Leah." He stepped through the front door, taking off the giant coat he had.

"Hey, why are you wearing that? It's the beginning of November." I asked, moving out the way as he skipped down the hall.

"Because it was cold today." Marley sighed, moving to the living room.

I stood in silence before hearing Cam exclaiming with excitement for Marley. I smiled and walked back through. Sitting on the couch, I looked over at Marley as finished playing around with Camila. "So, bud, how was school today?" I asked.

"Great, we separated salt and sand in science today. It was awesome!"

"Sounds cool," I put on a voice and a huge smile. Truth be told, I never liked that experiment when I was in the third grade, and I don't know how Marley can either. I changed the subject before he could go on more about the experiment. "Did you patch things up with Ezra today? Are you friends again?"

He shook his head. "No, I'm not being his friend again ever." I sigh.

"Marley, Ezra is your best friend. This fight is silly. It's like me having a fight with Luna."

"But Luna is your friend. Ezra isn't my friend."

I glare at him for a moment before slumping back into the couch. "Never mind."

We all stay silent, watching the film until the door goes again. "There's Dumb and Dumber." I sigh, standing up from the couch and answering the door again.

Opening the door, both Charlie and Finn don't seem to notice that I'm standing there, waiting for them to see me. After a minute they still hadn't realized so I called out on them. "Hey, Bert and Ernie!"

They both turned and glared at me. I laughed slightly and moved out the way as Finn tried to push past.

"Never call us that again." Charlie gritted through his teeth as he shuffled past.

I went through to the living room and Marley stood from the chair he was sat at. "You two are late home."

Finn rolled his eyes. "Are not, it's only four-thirty."

"It is?" I exclaimed, rushing over to my phone still on the table. Checking the time, my eyes become wide. "Shoot, it is," I turn to the twins. "why are you two so late then, dad said you should be back by quarter past four."

"Sorry, we walked home with Michael and he took forever to leave the school. Kept forgetting thing after thing." One of them puts on a voice.

I cross my arms over my chest. "And what are the chances I'll believe you, Finn?" I ask, raising my eyebrows at him.

"I'm Charlie." He sounds unamused, looking to the side slightly.

I tilt my head. "What? No… I'm sure you're Finn."

"Are you saying I don't know which one I am? I'm Charlie."

"Oh, come on," I mumbled, looking to the floor.

* * *

At dinner, which ended up being so much later than we anticipated, the table was silent with the exceptions of the hitting silverware against the plates and the disgusting noises of chewing.

I think in an attempt to make a conversation, Dad looked up from his plate. "So, how was everyone's days?" He asks, looking around at all of us.

"Good." Both Charlie and Finn say simultaneously. I'll tell you now, it's creepy how in sync those two are, and I'm not the only person to think that. Almost everyone in our family, both biological and honorary family, thinks so.

Me and Mom both nod and Marley gives out a positive hum. Cam doesn't even notice anything has been said.

Dad sighs. "Okay then," he clicks his tongue a few times, adding another noise to the silent table. "Well, my day was great. Finally caught the perp for the Davidson murder. The catch was awesome: bar fights, bottles smashing and quite a bit of blood."

"Jake!" Mom quietly yells across the table.

"What?" He shrugs his shoulders, raising his arms a little.

"Does it not concern you that there is a four-year-old at the table?" She leans in closer, whispering as if not to be overheard by the aforementioned toddler in the seat directly on her left.

"Sorry, I was just trying to make some dinner conversation." He looks down a little.

"Yes, I can see that but maybe not while there are kids here."

The table becomes silent again, but this time it is deafening.

Suddenly, one of the twins breaks it, something of which is not a good thing. "I wanna hear more about the perp!" He looks up with glee.

"Finn!" Mom and Dad both say simultaneously at him.

"What?" This time it was him raising his arms in confusion.

I narrow my eyes at him. "I swear you were Charlie a minute ago," I mumble as I tilt my head at him. I shake my head and look over at Dad. "How do you tell them apart? I just can't seem to do it."

"Parenting advantage," Dad smirks with a little laugh.

I sigh as the one in front of me points at me with a smug smile. I kick his leg under the table. "Shut up, Finn."

He kicks me back. "Charlie." He corrects, staring at me.

I scoff. "Whatever." I roll my eyes slightly, then looking back down at my dinner before the footsie game gets too violent and one of us ends up in the ER. (Not based on a true story.)

Dad quickly changes the subject. "So, Marley," he turns upon hearing his name. "did you patch things up with Ezra, or do I have to beat his ass?"

I raise my eyebrows, all in good reason. "Would you really?" My voice goes high as I hide in a laugh.

I see in the corner of my eye, Mom grinning over at Dad with a smug smile. He sticks his tongue out before turning his attention back to Marley sitting on the other side of the table. "Did you, buddy?"

Marley sighs, shaking his head and keeping his gaze down. "No. I don't want to be his friend again."

I lean in closer to Dad before my younger sibling can say anything else. "I asked him that earlier," I whispered. Dad nodded as a response.

"He keeps calling me Dickens." Marley whimpers, making it seem like he doesn't like that nickname.

A little thing about our names, they were inspired by certain things, especially the boys; I'm the only one without an inspired name of sorts. My full name is Leah Grace Peralta, Grace being after my half-aunt; which is a long story which involves a very crappy father. The twins are Charlie Ray and Finn Huxley. Charlie is the more modern way of Charles, Dad's best friend in the world, Ray being after my uncle Raymond, which Mom was very happy with, and Finn means fighter (well, the longer name Finley does, but not important) and Huxley has a strong feel to it. (They chose that name because the twins were born early, like really early, and for a while, it looked as if Finn wasn't going to survive.) Marley's name is inspired by Scrooge's late partner in the Charles Dickens' novella, _'A Christmas Carol'_ , which is a book Mom really enjoyed while on bed-rest before he was born. His middle name is Victor, named after my Mom's dad. Camila is pretty much a mashup of both grandmas, Camila being on Mom's side, Karen being on Dad's side.

"Buddy, I'd take that as a compliment." Dad smiles and I swear I see Marley glare daggers at him as a response. He mumbles as he looks back down at his plate, claiming he was just trying to help.

Mom cut Marley off from saying something else. "Don't worry, I'll talk to his parents and get this whole thing sorted out. Won't we, Jake?"

Dad looks up again, this time his mouth half-full of food. "Mmhmm." He agrees, unable to say anything out loud.

I cringe and hide a smile by looking down at my own food. I see the boys giving the same expression and hear Cam belly-laughing loudly next to me. I also see Mom's unimpressed/embarrassed face. He grins at her and she looks down slightly, trying to hide a smile too. Even after five kids, Dad still hadn't mentally aged much. I read this thing the other night about friends bailing you out of jail, best friends sitting next to you in the cell saying "we should have run faster". If I ever got into a holding cell, I'd either have Dad put me in there, get me out, but more likely, sitting next to me. And it wouldn't be the first time Dad would be sat in a holding cell, but most probably would be the last.

* * *

I was wandering around the cafeteria looking for Luna and her friends. Our friendship is an odd one, her being way more popular than me, housing more friends. She had a large group and she was my one true friend. I glance her from across the room and as expected, she was sat around her large group of friends. I sigh, knowing deep down I didn't really want to sit with her now.

As if on impulse, my eyes glide to an _almost_ empty table. The girl sitting there had stunningly silky chestnut colored hair and a light muddy shade of brown eyes. She was, in my opinion, relatively attractive, and it didn't click in my mind why she was sitting alone, and why she looked sad.

Being the person I am, I walked over and sat down next to her. She immediately glanced up and I felt a twinge of awkwardness. I shone a smile her way. "Hi!" I waved my hand, placing my lunch tray on the table.

"Can I help you?" She asked harshly, glaring my way.

I raise my eyebrows. "Not exactly the greeting I was hoping for, but I'll work with it," I place out my hand in front of her. "Hi, my name's Leah. Leah Peralta."

She lets out a small smile. "Nice to meet you, Leah," she shakes my hand, "I'm Iggy."

I nod, pursing my lips slightly. "Iggy? Never heard that one before."

"No one has. My real name is The Enigma, but my parents call me Iggy for short," she informs me. "I get everyone to call me Iggy."

I smile at her. "Why are you sitting alone?" I question.

She audibly sighs. "First day." She mumbles her response, putting her eyes to her food.

I exhale a knowing breath. "I get that, freshman year sucks."

She puts her attention on me, raising her eyebrows. "Wait? You're a freshman?"

I nod slowly. "Yeah... what are you?" I ask, leaning forward slightly.

She points to herself. "I'm a junior... how are you a freshman? You look so much older."

"Thanks?" I hesitate, squinting my eyes slightly. "And anyway, it's my fault, I thought you were a freshman. I'm sorry."

She laughs. "It's fine, I'm actually quite flattered."

I let out a cracked smile and a silence fills the table. Rather than letting it run through us both, I decide to break it. "So where are you from?"

"Manhattan," she answers. "well, I was born in Brooklyn and when I was about a year old, my parents moved to Manhattan and we stayed there until a few weeks ago. What about you? You lived in Brooklyn your whole life?"

I nod. "Yeah, my mom and dad are both in the NYPD so we couldn't really move anywhere else because my mom's a captain, and I know my dad wouldn't give up his position either."

Iggy beside me lets out a smile. "My mom used to work in the NYPD, but she was an assistant for the captain of the 99th precinct."

I widen my eyes. "No kidding? My mom and dad were both detectives in that same precinct, it's where they met."

"No doy," Iggy laughs. "It's a small world, isn't it."

I nod and giggle a little. After a minute, the laughter cools off and we're left with a silence again. I break it, yet again. "Are we supposed to know each other somehow?"

Iggy snorts. "No, of course not," a beat passes and her smile is gone. She stares at me. "Right?


	2. Cagney Jeffords

I wake up with a surprise, having just dreamt of falling down a mine. I sit up, avoiding hitting my head on the ceiling of the dorm room as I do. I blame my dad for having to do that, having gotten a tallness gene from him. I lean over the side of my bed and whisper my sister's name over and over to try and wake her up. When that fails, I lean back and grab my pillow before chucking it down at her.

"What?" Lacey eventually asks, her voice dry as she turns to her back to face me, even with her eyes still closed.

"You'll never guess what!" I try not to squeal as I keep my voice down for the neighbors. "I just had the craziest dream," I then proceeded to tell her about it.

Once I was done, Lacey looks at me with wide eyes. "I just had the same dream!" She has a giant smile on her face.

"Really?" My voice goes high as I lean down more to look at her further, all the blood in my body going right to my head.

Her smile she has placed on her face immediately disappears. "Are you crazy? Of course not!" She snickers, turning back to her side.

I slightly laugh at my sister's sarcasm, sitting back upright in my bed, this time forgetting to duck my head down, so I bashed it against the painted ceiling of our room. I subtly hear Lacey's snickered laugh from the bunk below me.

"That's karma's way of saying _"don't wake your sister up"_!" She tells me with a muffled tone, so I can put together the fact she has her head buried in her pillow again.

"Don't go back to sleep, classes start in an hour," I mention as I look up at the clock, simultaneously beginning to get out of bed.

"Yeah, an hour. So that's thirty-minutes of extra sleep, then another fifteen minutes of sleep, added by another ten of sleep, and five to make it to class. I'll be fine." She insists.

I roll my eyes but can't help but allow a small laugh to escape. We may be identical, but Lacey and I are two completely different people, personality wise. She's artistic, much like our dad, and I'm scientific; I'm an early morning person and Lacey's an all-nighter; She's sarcastic and I'm naive; I could go on.

"Lace, you know how your professor can get. If you're late once more, you could be putting your classes at risk. Plus it would not take you five minutes to get ready, you spend forty minutes just picking out what you're going to wear alone," I tell her as I walk across our dorm room to the kitchen, grabbing an ice-pack from the freezer and resting it against my head in the place I smashed against the ceiling. "And don't even get me started on your time to do makeup and everything, we'll be here for ages and we'll both be late."

Lacey groans and sits up. "If I get out of bed, will you shut up?" She asks, rubbing her eyes.

I shrug. "Maybe, maybe not," I wait for a beat before adding, "You'll have to get out of bed to see, won't you? Unless you might never know if I'll stop talking. The answer to all your problems is simple, but then again, it may be your nightmare. Stand up and you will see." Okay, one thing Lacey and I have in common, we enjoy to take the piss out of each other and annoy one another. But only for the joyful pleasure it brings when the other one caves. Much like this time, in fact. "Unsure on what to do, young Lacey. Well, I'll tell you one thing, If you stand up now, you will forever see your fate or doom."

Lacey gets to her feet. "Alright, fine! I'm up, now please shut up! It's too early!"

I let out a small laugh. "Proud of you, but I never said I would be quiet if you stood up, did I?"

Lacey takes a threatening step for me. "I swear if you do, I will bang your head against the ceiling for hours."

I put my hands up, admitting defeat. "Okay, okay, calm down, don't take it too far." I laugh slightly. Lacey takes a step back and comes to a standstill. I put my ice-pack away back in the freezer before I grin over at Lacey.

She raises her finger up. "Don't even think of it!" She enraged. "I will snap your neck, Cagney! It's too early!"

I raise my arms up. "I wasn't going to say anything!" I sigh.

She looks to the floor and I take the opportunity. Skipping along to the bathroom with a huge grin on my face, I begin to shout quietly, "Barney is a dinosaur with no imagination!" I stop and slam the bathroom door, locking it behind me so she can't get in.

"I swear, when you get back out here, I am going to kill you!" I heard Lacey threaten me through the wooden door.

I laugh. "Okay, then," I spoke through laughter. "I look forward to it!"

* * *

Surprisingly Lacey was ready with ten minutes to spare before classes start. Unfortunately, my class is on the opposite side of campus to hers, so I can't be sure she'll make it there at the right time but it's nice to know she's ready with time to spare. We left our apartment and got on to campus.

"Okay, don't be late and don't be rude," I instruct her as we come to a standstill in the middle of the courtyard.

She rolls her eyes and sighs. "Yes, _mom_."

I give her a glaring look. "Just don't." I simply tell her. "Don't."

She begins to walk off in the opposite direction that I have to go. "Bye, Cagney, enjoy your science-y stuff" She waves.

"General engineering." I correct her, beginning to shout to have her hear me.

She turns my way and I can see a subtle nod from her head. "Yeah, that's the one!"

I roll my eyes and turn the other way and walk toward the correct building on campus. It was a two-minute walk before I made it to the front of the lecture hall. I walked through the giant doors and took my seat in the second row, where I remained and waited for the teacher. He arrived ten minutes later, five minutes after the lesson was supposed to start. The lesson was a theory so we didn't do much for the almost hour of a lesson but sit and listen to him talk the entire time.

Finally, the bell went and I packed up fast, leaving the lecture hall and making my way toward the workshop. Luckily this second lesson was a practical.

* * *

I open the apartment door and immediately head over to the freezer again, taking out the same ice-pack from earlier.

"What did you do?" I heard a familiar voice. I spun around to see Ava sat on Lacey's bunk. It didn't surprise me to see she was wearing her usual over-sized _Die Hard "Now I have a machine gun, Ho-Ho-Ho"_ hoodie our uncle Jake got her like two-years ago for her birthday when she fell in love with the movie.

"Yeah, sis, what this time?" Lacey questions.

I sigh. "I was making a junior hacksaw handle and while using the anvil, I smashed my thumb with a hammer."

Ava pulls a grimaced face of pain and Lacey lets out a snort of laughter. I walk behind her and whip the back of her head with the ice-pack before putting it back against my finger. She swings around, pulling a threatening face but yet doesn't actually do anything to hurt me. I'll use that in the future, just wait.

"Well, this is officially the seventh time you've injured yourself this semester, and we're two months in, so suck it," Lacey says smugly, waving her face in front of mine.

"Suck what? We never made any sort of bet or anything." I question.

She stands still, glaring at me with a scary looking glare. I shift back automatically as if it were a natural reflex. Instead, we both turn to the sound of the door being knocked against on the other side. Lacey stumbles before swinging it open.

Stood on the other side was Nikolaj, our uncle Charles' son. Due to him being the same age as Lacey and I, he is the only kid from the old nine-nine squad we actually talk to know, since we moved off to university anyway. We still got on pretty well too.

"Okay, we're in big trouble now." He announced as he came through the door and slamming it shut.

"What did you do, Niko?" Lacey and I ask simultaneously.

He turns around and glares and me, and only me. "I can ask you the same question, Cags." He looks down at my hand.

I nod. "I can understand why you have questions with that, and I'll give you the short answer, it's one word. Engineering."

Ava butted in. "Yeah, speaking of, how did you exactly smash your thumb with the hammer?" She asks.

"I don't know." I shrug, keeping my attention on Nikolaj as he keeps his back against the door. "What are you doing?" I ask after a minute of staring.

"I may have pissed off that Kieth, and he's kinda chasing me around now." He makes it sound so casual the way he sounds it.

Lacey goes up to his side, whipping him by the ear with her hand, the same way I did with her earlier on. He groans a little and Lacey shrugs. "You deserve it, smart ass."

Niko sighs. "Not my fault!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wasn't really sure how to do this chapter, and struggled quite a lot with it, so I made something short. Something is better than nothing, right?
> 
> I want to recommend if thinking about taking engineering, maybe be careful. I smashed my thumb with a hammer against an anvil and could hardly move my thumb for weeks! And got my finger trapped in a vice (that one wasn't my fault). I'm glad I didn't pick engineering for my GCSE's! XD
> 
> The "Barney is a dinosaur" song/thing isn't mine. I learned it from my younger brother, and I asked him and he says he learned it from a friend and he doesn't know where his friend learned it from.


	3. Eliza Diaz

I'll be honest, I always thought it would be cool to be someone else. I always thought it would be awesome to swap places with someone you knew for a day or so, but only if they wanted to swap with you too. The one person I'd change places would definitely be my cousin Agnes. She's in high school, and is totally awesome! But then again, I'd never actually swap with anyone. I'd get too scared before doing the transition. Is that weird? Wanting to do something, but then backing out last minute? It would be like that time my family and I all went to Disney World, and I really wanted to go on one of the big rides, and when we got to the front, I decided I didn't want to anymore, so my Mom took me off while Mama stayed on with my brother. Is that normal or some human thing? Feeling happy and excited for something until it is put in front of you like a new meal for dinner. Also, how odd are forks? Why do you need that many metal things sticking up from the main part? What's up with that? 

This is what I spend my entire time before lunch thinking about. Don't even ask me what we did during those lessons, I was not paying attention at all. I caught up on a few things, but really the words are not connected one bit, so I don't know what was really going on. Dinner will be fun tonight!

But finally, the bell for lunch rang and we were free from the stuffy and cramped classrooms and were able to escape. Well, for a short time period anyway. After I have finished eating, there's still time to go until the end of the lunch break, so rather than choosing to go into the library for the fourth time this week, I decided, because today is a little sunny, I would go outside and see if I could play with my brother and his friends, seeing as I didn't really have many friends of my own.

I look around the playground, and rather than seeing my brother, I see the Marley in my grade sitting alone on one of the benches. I go over and sit next to him, giving him a smile.

"Hi, Eliza." He smiles back at me.

I wave and move a little closer, given that I was sat on the opposite end, almost falling off the edge of the bench. "Why are you sitting alone? Why aren't you playing with Jordon?" I ask.

"He's not here today," he keeps his eyes looking at the floor. "I think he's faking, he was fine yesterday."

I sigh. "Yeah, he was fine," I wait a minute before turning to him with a smile. "Why don't you play with me? We can play soccer if you want." I suggest, knowing how much he enjoys soccer.

He looks up at me with a smile. He nods quickly. "Yeah, that sounds cool!" He screams out, jumping up off the bench.

We both walk over to the field and find an empty pitch, which surprised us both. Usually the fourth-graders hog all the pitches. Which reminds me, where are they? There literally isn't any out here. Marley runs over and grabs one of the balls from the crate and kicks it over. It goes in the wrong direction and I laugh a little, a little unsure on how it could go that far to the left. "Sorry!" He shouts and runs back. I smile.

"It's fine," I reassure and kick the ball, it just missing the post.

"Oh, that was a close one," he looks at me with a giant grin. "I'll get it!" He shouts, beginning to run after the ball that was quickly getting further and further away. He returns after a minute and shows me up, kicking it and it going straight into the goal. He smiles with a smug look as he runs over and gets the ball again.

Unfortunately, the game is cut short before I can try again by an unfortunate and recognizable voice.

"Hey, Dickens, mate, you're on our pitch." A few snickered laughs come from behind Ezra as I sigh, shifting from one leg to another.

"Lay off him." I sigh, stopping Marley from turning around and walking away.

"Oh, look at that, little Dickens has a girlfriend." Kyle lets out a laugh.

Ezra pulls a disgusted face. He sneers, "Oh, god, Eliza, don't make that kid my brother-in-law."

"He's not my boyfriend," I told them, grabbing the soccer ball from Marley's hands. "Now, if you wouldn't mind, we were here first, so you guys can go and find another pitch." I put the ball back down on the grass.

Ezra raised his eyebrows high and crossed his arms over his chest. He shook his head. "No, you're going to move and find another pitch."

I look back at my brother. "And what makes you think you'd be able to make us move?"

Ezra lets out a single laugh, turning to his friends at the same time. He tilts his head slightly. "I'll fight you."

"I dare you to try. It would be funny to beat you in front of your friends because your not strong enough to fight me," Ezra's friends around him immediately seem interested. "Or are you hiding your inner strength every time we have an arm wrestle and I beat you every time?"

"Just because your my sister, doesn't mean I won't fight you." Ezra insists.

I nod slightly, keeping Marley in his place after he tries to walk off again. "Of course you will," I smile, allowing him to think he's won. He lets out a smug smile before I continue, making that before mentioned smile disappear. "but the boy who says he'll fight me will always be my baby brother."

He looks away, hiding his slightly embarrassed face. "Not your baby brother, just your brother." He mumbles.

"Younger twin brother then, how's that? My brother who is five minutes younger than me. My brother who holds doors open for me and allows me to sit wherever I want at dinner is saying he'll fight me," I begin to shout. "Gather round everyone!" I quieten down slightly, glaring my attention at my brother. "This is going to be priceless."

A few 'ohh's!" escape from his friend's as Ezra looks down to the floor with complete embarrassment.

I wish I could tell you I finished there, but I got a little caught up in the excitement. "You're never really like this at home, bro, you're always so sweet. Even if you do fight me, you'll always be the kid who was scared of a fly."

Ezra shouts. "Alright! Fine! You've made your point, you can keep the pitch."

I lean in closer, a huge smile on my face. "Thank you," I say. "but one more thing, if you ever pick on Marley again, I'll tell everyone about the year you went as a flower for Halloween because you were too afraid to go as the bee." I threaten.

He huffs as I stop Marley from walking away a third time. Instead, it's Ezra and his bunch of friends walking away in the opposite direction.

Marley looks up at me with confusion. "Why did you do that? I could handle it myself."

"You tried walking away three times," I mention, letting out a slight laugh. "and anyway, I had your back, friends always have your back."

He raises his eyebrows. "How is it possible that Ezra is your brother? He's so mean and you're so nice."

I smile, hiding a slight blush on my cheeks. "Well, secretly every set of twins has a nice one and an evil one."

He shakes his head. "No, my older brothers are twins and they're evil, both of them."

I laugh slightly again, being cut off from saying anything else by the end of lunch bell. We both walk in toward the classroom, staying close to Marley in case Ezra turns around and tries anything again. I hope he won't, that Halloween story was funny and really embarrassing. And like before, the lessons start and I completely zone out, this time my brain feeling incredibly proud of myself for standing up for Marley, a kid I barely even know. Maybe I'd be good at swapping with my Mama for a day too.

* * *

Ezra was quiet the entire bus ride home and didn't actually speak until we got to the doorstep.

"Why did you do that?" He eventually opens his mouth, hitting my shoulder at the same time as we wait for the door to open. "You completely embarrassed me in front of my friends." He pounds my shoulder with every syllable he said.

I sigh, ignoring the punches that kept coming; it wasn't like they hurt anyway, Ezra doesn't have an awful lot of upper body strength.

The door opened to see Mom on the other side. She stares at Ezra as he slowly reduces the punches against my shoulder. Rather than saying anything, he pushes past and runs toward his room, slamming his door loudly we could hear it on the other side of the house.

"What was all of that about?" Mom asks, a concerning look on her face.

"He's embarrassed," I simply answer, making my way through to the living room.

"Why?" Mom asks another question, shutting the front door and following me through.

"He started picking on this boy again and I stood up for him, but it ended up with me accidentally embarrassing Ezra."

"Who's the boy he was picking on?"

"Marley..." I have to think for a moment. I click my fingers together, closing my eyes in the hope it would come to me, but it doesn't. "I don't know his last name, but it is near the end of the alphabet, I know that much."

Mom sighs, playing around with the dishcloth in her hand. "Can you go an check on him, please? I've never seen him like this."

I completely ignore her question and I slam down on the couch. I do answer though, "Mom, he was bullying the kid, he kinda deserved what he got."

"Eliza," Mom's voice got authoritative.

I widen my eyes, my eyebrows raising too. I sigh deeply and get up off the couch, walking toward Ezra's bedroom. I knock slowly on the door, calling through hesitantly. "Ezra, please open up, Mom's worried about you."

"Go away!" He yells through.

"What's going on with him?" I turn around to see Mama standing behind me.

I sigh, a little too scared to tell her what went on at school. I'm fine with saying things to Mom, but when it comes to Mama, I get a little too scared. It's just she's a lot scarier than Mom. I know she wouldn't do anything, but she still scares me slightly.

I shrug, turning back to the door, beginning to knock again. Ezra yells through and Mama pulls me away and back toward the living room, telling me to wait a while until he cools off slightly.

"Do you know he will cool off?" I ask when we reach the living room.

She shrugs. "I don't know, but this reminds me of a friend I knew in the academy." - Police academy, which is one reason why she scares me slightly. She was a cop, and a "pretty badass" one to use Mom's words.

I wait and when she doesn't say anything else, I raise my eyebrows slightly. "Is that it?" I wonder.

She shakes her head. "No," she tells me and I go quiet again. "He used to get upset like that, and the wisest thing to do was wait it out until he cooled off."

"What was your friend's name?" I ask after knowing for sure she's done. "Do you remember it?"

She nods, a small smile appearing on her face. "Of course I do. Once you meet a Jake Peralta, you don't forget it." I look to the side, wondering where I had heard the name before.

Mom walks through from the kitchen, making Mama's smile grow a little wider.

"I remember him," she says with a smile. "He was the really childish one with the big nose."

Mama nods. "Wow, it's been years since I've seen him," she smiles a little before looking back at me. "Eliza, are you okay?" Her smile disappears when she notices my face.

I look back up at her and nod. "Yeah, I just know that name from somewhere... what was it? Perks? Perrett?"

"Peralta?" Mama and Mom say at the same time.

I nod again. "Yeah, that one, I know it from somewhere, I just don't know where from." The room goes silent, which was perfect for me to think in. After a minute, it dawns on me. "Marley! That's his last name! It's Marley Peralta."

"Who's Marley?" Mama asks, "I didn't think he had a son named Marley."

"It's the kid Ezra was supposedly bullying - Eliza stood up for him today, that's why Ezra's locked himself in his room." Mom answers for me.

I gulp as Mama stares at me. "Your brother is bullying someone?" She asks.

"Yeah," I nod. "I felt bad for Marley so I stood up for him. I couldn't just watch him get bullied by Ezra anymore, it's been going on for weeks."

Mama cracks a smile. "That was good of you, standing up for your friend... I can't believe he would do that." She sighs, crossing her arms across her chest. "I'll go and talk to him." She turns and leaves the room. 

Mom jogs over to the door and shouts through, telling her not to be too harsh, having to remind her that Ezra was still a kid. She hears a shouted back response which makes her laugh a little. It makes me laugh too. She turns to me. "Can you help me with dinner? It's your favorite: empanadas and patatas bravas." I smile and nod, following her through to the kitchen.

Luckily that's not a new meal that would be put in front of me, so I know I won't back out from trying it. Mom's homemade empanadas are the best thing that you'll ever eat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha, a little twist in there! (Was it a twist? I suck at knowing things like that!)
> 
> Sorry for dragging it out a little, but I promise, I'm getting there quickly, just wait and see! Once two friends meet, it will happen and unravel pretty quickly after that. I just wanted to lay all of the groundwork and let you guys know the characters.
> 
> See you in the next chapter!


	4. "Iggy" Linetti-Boyle

I return home to an empty apartment. Being the fact Ben doesn't get back for another hour, that didn't really cross my mind at all, but mom not being here too, that's a little suspicious. Concerned, I call her as soon as I put my bag down on the couch and she picks up immediately, which didn't surprise me, seeing as she never puts the phone down.

"Hey, Iggy." My mom's voice comes through the speaker.

"Hey, mom, where are you?" I get to my point of the phone call with no hesitation.

I hear my mom rustle about for a moment before she answers. "Just running some errands, you know, we didn't have much in after the move."

I nod and let out a subtle breath of relief. "Okay, I was just wondering, how long do you think until you'll be back?" I wonder, slouching down on the couch and putting the TV on.

It starts blaring, which cuts my mom off. I panic and turn it down, sliding down the couch a little in the moment. It takes another minute before she continues to say before she was interrupted by the tv.

"Not long, 'kay."

I sigh, not bringing it up again. I say goodbye and hang up, putting my attention back on the show that was on and zoning out.

There is a loud noise that brings me back and I look up to see my mom banging against the open door whilst holding a bag of groceries. I sit up, calling over to her. "What are you doing?"

"The damned keys stuck!" She yells back, pulling furiously at the innocent key that was jammed in the lock.

I jump up off the couch and go across the room, taking over with the key situation. I turn the key around once and pull it out with no force. I hand it to her as she stares in disbelief. "Since when did you get so good at that?" Mom asks after a moment, still standing in shock.

"Oh, Leah taught me."

"Who's Leah?"

I look over. Confused, I raise my eyebrows. Had I actually never mentioned her before? "She's a girl at school, she's really cool actually."

"You've made a friend... I didn't think that would ever happen." I jump out of my skin to see my younger brother standing right behind the couch. I blink at him, regulating my breathing again.

"Since when have you been home?" I ask him.

"'bout ten minutes. You were so caught up on the tv I just decided to leave you." I sit back down on the couch again, kneeling on the cushions to face the kitchen. It takes me a moment, but I eventually say something. "I do have friends. Granted it is only one, but she is my friend, so suck it."

Ben shakes his head slightly and moves his attention back to the game system he had in his hand as he walks back through to his bedroom. Mom closes the door and walks over to the empty kitchen, placing the bag down on the counter. "How was school?" She asks with her back away from me.

"Good." I simply answer, turning away in an expect the conversation was finished.

Much to my surprise, mom continued talking. "Okay... tell me more about this Leah."

I look to her and ask why. She gives me an obvious answer which makes me sigh. She then neglects the groceries, much like she always does in an attempt to not do it, and sits next to me on the couch. I ponder for a moment on whether to do it before I click my tongue trying to think on what to say. When I've got an idea, I turn to look at her. "Well, she's got three brothers and a sister, all of which are younger than her, she lives with her parents, who are both cops, and she's in the freshman year, there isn't really much to tell after that."

"Is she nice to you?"

I nod. "Well, yeah, of course."

Mom stands up from the couch. "That's good." She walks toward the bathroom.

I sigh and stand up from the couch too, immediately heading for the kitchen to put away the groceries, knowing too well they'd sit there for hours if my mom was in charge of it. After I'm finished, and as if on cue, my phone buzzes from the couch. I go over and see a text from Leah.

_**[15:51pm - Leah] About what you suggested... should we actually do it? Would they care?** _

I read it and sighed, already typing a response.

_**[15:51pm - Iggy] Of course they would care but it would be in the good way they haven't seen each other in years!** _

_**[15:52pm - Leah] Okay, okay. Do you wanna come over tomorrow so we can set it up? Make sure it's your mom who picks you up after. Say 6 ish, my dad should be back by then.** _

I sadly sigh again and begin to type again, this time it took me a little longer for even a short message.

**_[15:54pm - Iggy] Don't worry, it will DEFINITELY be my mom!_ **

This time, she's the one that takes longer to reply.

_**[15:55pm - Leah] Am I pushing on buttons here?** _

_**[15:55pm - Iggy] With what** _

_**[15:55pm - Leah] A hatred for a parent? I know how to avoid it if I am. I have to steer clear from my grandpa in conversations with my dad, I can do it with you if you want.** _

_**[15:56pm - Iggy] No don't worry. All I'm saying is that my mom will pick me up because my dad's living in California.** _

_**[15:56pm - Iggy] But yh, I can do that** _

_**[15:57pm - Leah] Kay, see you tomorrow** _

_**[15:57pm - Iggy] Yep! :)** _

I put down my phone and call for my mom and her permission. "Hey mom, can I go Leah's after school tomorrow?"

Mom returns from the bathroom and nods. "Yeah, sure."

"Can you pick me up after?"

She nods again. "Yeah, okay."

"Thanks." I smile at her and grab my phone from the counter, going down the hall to my room.

* * *

Leah may have warned me about how chaotic her house could get after school, but nothing ever really alerted me that she was being serious. Obviously, I knew about her siblings and their young ages, but I never thought it could get that bad. When we walked through the door, the house was silent, other than the noise of the tv blaring a common, but yet annoying theme song.

We went through to the living room and found her sister sprawled out on the couch, eating a granola bar and her eyes content on the old tv show.

"Hey, Leah," her dad spun around on the chair on the other side of the room. "And you must be the famous Iggy." He speaks with a grin as he spots me.

Leah puts her bag down and smiles at her dad. "Hey, where's mom?"

"Oh, she had an issue to deal with at work so she won't be back for a while." He stood from the chair and walked over to us.

Her sister jumped up from the couch and ran to her legs, hugging them tightly. Leah laughs, resting her hands on top of the little one's dark brown curls. "Now she's realized I'm home."

"Yeah, she's putting on a little bit of a strop today, so I'd be careful." Her dad joked as he went over to the computer again. Before he could continue, he turned around again. "Make yourself at home, don't just stand there."

She parted from her sister and we sat down with her and watched Peppa Pig, although Leah and I weren't really watching. Not long after that, her brother's started coming back. First was Marley, and he seemed in a much better mood than what she described.

"Did you sort things out with Ezra?" Leah asks, a hint of hope present in her voice. He shakes his head.

"No, but his sister stood up for me today, so I'm not sure he'll make that mistake again." He smiles.

Marley sits on the opposite couch and her sister goes over to him instead, but she still wouldn't allow Leah and I to leave the room.

Lastly were the twins, and that's when the trouble started.

The second, and I mean literal second they walked through the living room door, Marley was begging them to leave Cam alone as she was screaming. As her sister was distracted, granted not in a good way, Leah stood from the couch and made her way to the kitchen. Scared of what would happen to me if I stayed, I followed her through just as her dad started to intervene with the younger ones.

With the door shut, I look over to Leah with my eyes wide.

"I told you they're bad."

"I didn't think you were being serious," I laugh, glad it had finally gone silent in the other room. "People usually say that, but they're never actually serious."

"Well, I was!" She laughs too.

"I believe you now!"

We fall into a fit of laughter which abruptly stops after a moment when her sister opens the door and finds us. "You left, I told you not to leave."

Leah sighs and I see her dad subtly grinning and trying to hide laughter as she drags us back into the living room. Leah obviously sees her dad's smile because she grits through her teeth as she's dragged passed. "Oh, don't say anything!" She tries to sound serious, but she can't help the smile escape.

Her dad spins around on his chair and laughs. "I wasn't going to!" He defends himself, turning back to the computer.

"Yeah, right," Leah calls across the room.

"Yeah, right." Her sister echoes, making Leah immediately cover the young one's mouth, a huge smile on her face.

Her dad turns around once again, his eyebrow arched. "Excuse me?"

Leah looks over, a denying look in her eyes. "Nothing..." She lies, making me laugh a little under my breath.

* * *

After dinner, Leah and I are patiently watching the clock tick by the minutes until my mom would come and pick me up. Not because we were getting tired of each other, but because of the entire real reason we had set this up. Of course, we knew my mom would not be on time, but we had to hold on hope she'd be reasonable and not have us wait too long. Obviously, she doesn't know, and nor does Leah's dad.

Six-thirty eventually rolls around, and I'm getting a little impatient while Leah's getting a little anxious because her dad is beginning to get her sister ready for bed.

"Calm down, girl, she'll show," I reassure her.

"Well, I know that, but when my dad puts Cam to bed and she's in a mood, he'll fall asleep in her bed."

I raise my eyebrows. "A toddler bed?"

She shakes her head. "No, it's a normal size, but he could be in there all night."

"Well, don't worry, she'll get here," I tell her.

A moment passes and he comes through from the kitchen. "Alright girls, I'm gonna take Cam up to brush her teeth," I swear I see Leah slump back a little. "We'll be down in a minute, call me down if anything bad happens with the boys, okay?"

Leah slowly nods and I agree out loud.

When he reaches the living room door, he stops and turns to me. "Iggy, when's you're mom getting here?"

"Any minute now, although she was supposed to be here half an hour ago."

As if on cue, the door goes. Her dad laughs and nods his head. "I was half expecting that to happen." He gently moves Camila out of the way and goes to answer the door.

Leah and I jump up and move past her sister and out to the hall. "Eager to head home, Iggy? I'm not surprised, Leah's a nightmare." Her dad catches us standing there and jokes around.

"Hey!" Leah whines, her voice going up a little. "Not cool."

He laughs and begins to open the door, "But yet you live with it, Lee-bear." She stops and immediately falls still. I see my mom cross her arms over her chest with a slight smile spread across from her face. "Gina?" Her dad asks with the sound of hesitation in his voice.

"Jake Peralta, where has the time gone? You look great, girl!" Mom stands on her toes and hugs him tightly.

"I still don't like that nickname." Her dad sighs.

"But yet it's still stuck." Mom laughs a little, pushing him away slightly.

Camila runs passed me and Leah and to her dad's feet, crying for him. He picks her up and my mom seems interested after.

"Who's this?" She wonders.

"Oh, this is Cam," her dad bobs her on his hip. "Cam, this is Gina, my friend from when I was a kid."

"Auntie Gina?" Camila asks before places her fist in her mouth.

"No, no, just Gina at the moment." Mom buts in before her dad can say anything else.

Leah's dad moves slightly out of the way. "Do you want to come in?"

Mom nods. "Yeah, sure, I'd love to."

I stop her in her tracks once she's entered the door. "Where's Ben?" I wonder.

"School trip. He won't be back for a few days." She replies.

They both make their way into the living room and I stop Leah before we go in. I put my hand up for a high five, a huge smile on my face. "We did it!"

She returns the high five. "Yeah, we did!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, hey, hey, did you know there are 57 DAYS until January 10th???? Season 6, baby! If you didn't, well now you do! *screams internally* GOD I'M SO EXCITED! Who else is? Ask any of my friends, I will not shut up about it. I've said I was not to talk about anything to do with B99 for an entire day at school, and have failed both fricken times! The first time I failed at lunch thanks to my best friend who said "loophole" and put her hands out like Charles does in 5x03 "Kicks" (she trapped me in between a rock and a crazy place!), and the second (today) I didn't even make it to the third lesson. My boyfriend pushed me against a wall and I cracked. (He said B99 was a reality TV show! I had to correct him!)
> 
> I'm gonna try again tomorrow, wish me luck, let's see if I can do it... I won't but I'll try!


	5. Charlie Peralta

I walked into the living room upon hearing two different voices and laughter. One voice was my dad, no doubt about it, but the other was one hundred percent not my mom. She hadn't come home yet, and I would know if she had because Cam would be going crazy, so I chose to investigate.

Sitting on the couch was my dad and a woman I had never seen in my life. I raise my eyebrows at him once he sees me. "Really dad? Mom will be home any minute and you've got a mistress over? I thought you would have learned a lesson from when you were a-"

"Charlie, before you even think of finishing that sentence, I'll finish it for you," Dad says as I cross my arms across my chest in slight anger. "This is Gina, she was my friend while I was growing up and she's just moved back to town."

I tilt my head. "I'm not buying it."

Dad puts his head down and his "friend" looks up at me questionably.

"Okay, if you are really who you say you are, then answer me this, what's his favorite drink?"

"Orange soda, like a child." She quickly responds and dad looks slightly hurt.

"Favorite musician?"

"Taylor Swift, although he's got an order against her."

"That was a misunderstanding." Dad quickly buts in before I can say anything else.

"Favorite movie?"

"Die Hard." She answers quickly.

"When's his birthday?"

"June 7th, 1981."

"It is?" I raise my eyebrows and look a mixture of confused and slight surprise. "Woah, you're old." I let out a snickered laugh, pointing over at dad.

He sarcastically laughs but keeps his gaze away from me and more on his "friend", which I'm starting to believe more than I did before. Actually, I didn't believe it at all before, so I'm gaining a little hope.

His friend has a coy smile on and she shifts proudly in her seat. "C'mon, give me a hard one." She dares.

I wait a moment before continuing. "What does he do for a living?"

"He's a detective."

I snap my fingers. "A-ha, no he's not. He's a sergeant." I correct her.

Dad stops us before it can escalate. "Okay, that's enough," he turns his attention to me. "Why are you up?"

"Finn's snoring and I can't sleep."

Dad nods. "Yeah, that's pretty believable." He thinks for a moment on a suggestion. "Why don't you kick him or something?"

"I've tried that," I sigh. "And before you suggest it, I've tried the pillow over his face."

Dad looks down slightly, mumbling a small "oh". The room falls to a silence that is somehow deafening. I shift on the spot, changing from one leg to another. Dad makes clicking noises and Gina sits perfectly still. I shake my head a little to stop my self from entering a standing up sleeping trance, and if I did, it wouldn't be the first time too.

"I'm gonna go kick him again." I turn and leave.

I walk up the stairs and on the landing, Leah catches me beforehand.

"What's got you up so late?" She asks.

"I could ask you the exact same thing."

She gently punches my shoulder and lifts her eyebrows. I look at the floor. "Finn's snoring and I can't sleep." I sigh.

She smiles widely at me before telling me to wait there before she disappeared into her room. She's in there for about a minute before she comes out holding an old plastic lightsaber from when we were much younger.

"You kept it?" I ask, my voice full of surprise. 

"Of course I did dummy. I loved playing Star Wars with you and Finn whilst Mom was begging us to be careful around Marley in his playpen."

"I'm Finn, Leah." I lie, looking back down at the floor to hide my smile. I'm never actually good at lying which twin I am, Finn's so much better than me.

She takes a minute to register before she looks to the side. "Ha-ha, nice try, you just said Finn was snoring at you couldn't sleep."

I groan, remembering when I had told her that. She grabs my hand before anything else can be said and leads me into mine and Finn's joint room. She makes me wait at the ajar door as she sneaks over to one of the beds. She takes a gentle swing of the plastic toy and it hits the top of his head. I laugh loudly as Finn jolts up.

He makes eye contact with her for a slight second before makes a gagging noise. "I feel sick now." I see him hiding a smile behind his hand he's put up against his mouth.

Leah jumps back a literate two feet and lands on my bed. "Really?" She has her hand against her chest.

Finn removes his hand and lets out a belly laugh. "No, but that's what you get for waking me up."

She jumps up from my bed and almost pounces at Finn. I jump in the way and stop her. I turn my head and see Finn in the corner of his bed laughing. Quickly, I take the toy from her hand and lead her out of our room, feeling her body shake under my hands. I close the door and switch on the light, immediately turning to face my brother. I sarcastically laugh and walk over as Finn can hardly control himself.

"That was _really_ clever, you know how she gets."

"Don't wake me up then."

"It's the only way I would be able to sleep because you were snoring louder than dad."

"Dad doesn't snore." Finn protests.

I sit down on my bed. "You can't hear him snoring because you're like the same volume as him."

He puts his hand against his chest, looking at me with a face of pure hurt. "You're a jerk."

I raise my eyebrows at him before making him laugh again upon reminding him on how he almost sent Leah into a panic attack after saying he felt sick. I get up again and switch off the light, before managing to walk back over and get back into bed. I fall asleep quickly without saying another word to Finn.

* * *

Finn and I were sat in our lesson, and I was completely away with the fairies. Something about the fifth grade just doesn't agree with me. I don't like it. Whilst thinking about nothing, just a blank space, one-hundred percent, I'm not lying, Finn clicks his finger in front of my face and brings me back to the boring class. I see on the whiteboard that there is an activity to do, something to do with whatever I was not listening to. I look at my brother and he has a weird, smug-like smirk on his face.

"You were staring." He declares in a whisper.

I look at him with raised eyebrows. "What? No, I wasn't."

"Look at you," he points up and down as I try to think how that would exactly be possible in the middle of a classroom during the fourth period. "You are basically drooling over her."

I scoff and begin to read what was on the board, not to know what we needed to do because I needed the first half of this lesson for that, but to just get away from the conversation. "Was not," I say anyway even though my previous attempt to drop the subject. "You're seeing things, you crazy weirdo."

His wipes his thumb against my chin. He shows me the water-like mark on his finger after he pulls it away. "What's this then?"

I stammer for a moment while I think of something to say. After a moment, something clicks in my head. "I was thinking about lunch, I'm starving."

"We've already had lunch," Finn interjects.

I raise my eyebrows and think for another minute. "Then I was thinking about dinner." Is the best I can get out of the limited time.

We argue over this for a few minutes in quiet whispers as not to be overheard by the teacher on the opposite side of the room. We go quiet everytime she glances over at us before continuing the argument when she looks away. He finally breaks me after about five minutes.

"Well, it doesn't matter anyway, there's nothing to see in Bailey." Finn sighs, placing his chin in his palm of his hand which was held up by his elbow resting on the table.

My eyes drift to Bailey across the room, a small and annoying smile creeping on my face. "Are you kidding? Bailey's amazing, and kind and smart, she knows the answers to almost all of the questions that are asked, she's got a nice smile and she gets really protective over her favorite books and shows -" I stop and see Finn's smirk in the corner of my eye. I give him a quiet applause before slumping forward. "How did I fall for that one?" I ask mostly for myself but Finn did overhear it, so he decides to join in.

" _You like Bailey_ , _you like bailey_..." he repeats over and over again in a sing-song way, still whispering as not to get caught by the teacher, who seems to be gaining a suspicion to the both of us.

I tell him to stop on repeat, breaking it in every time he takes a moment to breathe. The teacher eventually catches us both.

"Charlie and Finn, that is your first warning, get on with your activity." She shouts over at us and the entire classroom turn their heads to face us both.

Finn looks down at his work and begins doing it immediately. I look up and down, up at the board, then down at my work, letting in subtle glances at Bailey who's quietly yet quickly doing the activity. I smile briefly, something of which I don't know how to control anymore. Whenever my mind shifts to Bailey, my face just breaks a large smile and I think my heart melts a little every time too.

I hate to think it, and it would be worse to admit it, especially in front of him, but I think maybe Finn is right. Do I like Bailey? I mean sure she's a friend, we both really like Harry Potter and Star Wars, but is it possible I _like her_ like her? Romantic-stylez? (Finn and I never let my dad live that down. We heard the story once and we haven't dropped it since).

Is it possible?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, the conversation between Finn and Charlie at school was taken from a prompt I found on pinterest under "crush prompts" so that's out there.
> 
> Also, I may have an addiction with the promos released on YouTube for season 6! I know that in the UK the epsiodes may not air until February/March next year or September-October/maybe even January/February 2020! But I can still get excited! It's just too much at the moment, I like die internally when I see them!


	6. Ava Jeffords

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I really don't know how the Jeffords' girls and Nikolaj will contribute with the story seen as their at college, I'll try something with it later on, but I think these will be for a slight laugh at the moment. I really need to plan out the remainder chapters now, I only did the first 4, that's why its taken so long, because I don't know what to write.
> 
> Also, I've been writing something that will be published on Chrstmas Day (well, that's the goal) to do with these characters, but not to do with the plot whatsoever. 
> 
> It's the weekend now, so I hope to fit more writing in over the next two days.
> 
> Enjoy and happy Friday! :)

"Hey, Ava," A voice made me look up.

I see Jesse standing above me, smiling down a huge toothy grin. I wave subtly and return to what I was doing.

Keeping my eyes on the book, I slightly turn my head in his direction so he knows I'm trying to communicate with him. "How was class?"

He groans slightly. "Oh my god, it was so boring!"

I snicker slightly knowing how much he hates that class. Which brings me to my next question. "If you hate it so much, why did you take it when we got here?"

"I didn't know how bad it would be." His voice goes high as his raises his hands in defense.

I smirk and look up to meet his eyes. They're a darker blue than usual and they are staring right at me with a small smile on his face. We share an awkward moment. Me and Jesse have known each other since we were in middle school, and he's never left my side. He's stuck through me through the worst of times and I could say he is my best friend. The moment is only awkward because I let it be, and I feel as if it was an awkward moment. He didn't do much about with it.

Jesse clears his throat and looks to the side, bringing back the conversation. "So... what are you reading?"

I shake my head. "I wasn't reading."

He raises his eyebrows. "You were very clearly reading." He laughs.

"No, I wasn't. The librarian came by and I wanted it to make it seem as if I was reading so she wouldn't ask me to leave."

"Why don't you want to leave the library?"

"Have you been outside? It's December, dumbass, it's freezing!"

He laughs slightly, making us both look away.

Instead of letting it get awkward again, I look back straight to him and ask, "You heading home for Christmas?"

"Can we? I thought freshman had to stay on campus for their first year."

"I've been told we're allowed to go home for Christmas."

He raises his finger and points. "Hey, maybe you could read up on it." He laughs, moving his finger to circle above his head, signaling to look around the library.

I snicker a laugh, pulling a sarcastic face. He knows I've never been a huge fan of reading. I've never really found myself enjoying it. Before you judge me, I prefer the movies: they're visual, so you can see what the characters look like rather than guessing, and don't take nearly as long.

Jesse, on the other hand, loves reading and has always been much more of a bookworm than me. He says the movies ruin the franchise, but I'd care to disagree. I've told him several times that the Harry Potter movies are so much better than the books, even if there are flaws in both of them. (I won't go too deep)

"Well, even if we aren't allowed to go home, will you be speaking with the family?" I ask.

"Highly doubt it," he sighs, "Dad's working in Spain, so there's the time difference, there's no way I'm not talking to Miranda, and Claire will be spending it with Thea and her now _fiance_ Mark." He pulls a disgusted face and changes his voice at the sound of his new _soon-to-be-brother-in-law_.

"Wow, still got a grudge against Mark." I point out.

"He's a dick." He answers almost immediately.

This hatred to Mark dates back about three years ago when his older sister started dating a guy who was two years older than her. He loves his niece, Thea, she's only a year old and is pretty cute (he showed me endless pictures after she was born) but he utterly hates Mark. It's quite funny (and sometimes cute) when he gets so protective.

"I think you've got to get over this hate toward Mark, Jesse," I tell him.

"Why? He's not good enough for my sister."

I laugh and he apologizes, turning the conversation to me by saying, "that's enough about me. What about you? What are you doing for the holidays?"

I huff, having to think properly. "Ur... I don't know, probably speak to my mom and dad, maybe my uncle, you know, just speak to the family."

"Cagney and Lacey?" He guesses.

"No, but I'll ask mom and dad to tell them I said hi."

"That's cruel, Ava."

I smirk at him and close the book in front of me.

As if she has super hearing, the librarian come over. "If you're not reading, please leave."

I roll my eyes and put the book back on the shelf behind me. Jesse stands up and puts his hand out for me to follow him. My hand grazes against him, and although he doesn't even notice, I can't help my cheeks go a little crimson. I put my hands against my cheeks to cover the blush and keep my head down so he doesn't notice.

Luckily he doesn't.

* * *

"You should have asked him out!" Cagney shouts loudly, so much I'm not surprised the entire of Europe didn't hear her. "Or at least kissed him."

Niko smiles and nods. "It's so obvious you like him."

I raise my eyebrows at them both. "Are you guys actually serious?" They both nod their heads violently.

"Ava, you blushed so hard you had to cover your cheeks when his hand slightly touched yours." Cagney laughs.

I shake my head. "So what?" I ask. "Jesse and I, we're just friends, only that, nothing more." I state, waving my hands around slightly.

Cagney turns to Nikolaj and begins humming under her breath before Niko starts singing along quietly. I look at the two them for a minutes or so as they continue singing and as they stare at each other with giant smiles.

"Why don't you two go out?" I ask, cutting them off imeediately.

Cagney turns to face me. "What? We're just friends."

"Same with me and Jesse." I call her out.

"But, Ava, Cags and I never have had awkward moments like that," he smiles at me and then looks to my sister. "She's my best friend, I wouldn't want to jeprodize that." Cagney gives him a repeating smile, as if she was saying she agreed with that.

I see the time on my watch in the corner of my eyes and I stand from the bed. "Alright, it's getting late, and by this point Chloe will be pestering me on where I've been."

My sister stands up behind me, following me to the door. As I get there, I turn to wave goodbye to Niko and her, before the door bursts open from my side, exposing Lacey looking a little rattled.

"Jason's party, is amazing!" She laughs, shouting in my ear so loud I'm surprised I didn't go deaf.

Cagney rolls her eyes before crossing her arms over her chest. "Are you drunk?"

Lacey shakes her head. "No, I'm moderately functional." She spits a little in a haze.

"I'll take that as a yes," Cagney sighs as she steps forward and I can see the resist to hit Lacey in the face in her eyes. "Mom and Dad will kill you when they find out."

"Hey, I'm of legal age!" She states before she begins giggling.

Niko comes up behind me and shoves me out of the door, calling to Cagney as he shut the door in my face, wishing her luck with taming Lacey. He turns me around and begins walking with me down the hall, the same direction to both our dorms.

Eventually, after about a minute, he turns to me and asks, "So really, what was it with this Jesse?"

I sigh and stare at him. "Really, we're doing this right now?"

He nods. "Yes because I wanna know."

I huff. "Fine," I see his excited glance. "Jesse and I have known each other since we were eleven, and we've been like best friends ever since. There was a brief time in the eighth grade where I may have had a minor crush on him, but it left when I found out it wasn't going to happen because he got a girlfriend, so I let it go. For the entire of high school he was living in Florida with his dad and his sister because his mom had just died. We stayed in contact the whole time, but when I found out he was coming back to New York for college, I got so happy. It's pathetic, I know it -"

"Ava, that's not pathetic, it's actually kind sweet," he pushes my shoulder awkwardly. "You guys sound cute together."

I sigh. "I don't wanna talk about it anymore, okay?"

He nods, stopping in his tracks outside my door. He smiles as I walk through and he waves until I close the door. I turn and see Chloe standing right behind me. I squeal out. Holding my hand up on top of my chest, I hold back my urge to scream at her. "Oh my god, Chloe, what was that for?"

"Who was that?"

I narrow my eyes at her change in subject. I try to say smomething before deciding silence is the best option right now. I silently move past her and go to my room, shutting the door loudly behind me. I flop down on my bed and pull out my phone from my hoodie pocket. A text catches my eye and as I read it, I feel my heart skip a beat slightly.

**_[21:19pm - Jesse] I had fun in the library today. I feel like we don't do that enough anymore. Just chat, you and me. We should do it more :)_ **

I half my mouth half open, trying to keep my cool. He can't see me, or hear me, so I let out a tiny excited squeal, it being more like a whisper so Chloe wouldn't hear me.

**_[21:19 - Ava] Yeah, sure, I'd like that :)_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it's so short and not really meaningful in anyway, but this is what I get out in two hours and stress over the fact I hadn't updated in ages. I promise the next one is more meaningful and I will try to get it up as soon as possible, as well as figure out what the F I'm gonna do with this Christmas one. (I've finished one of the five parts, just don't know really how to take part no. 2... I'll figure it out.)


	7. Ezra Diaz

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick update! Also quick writing! 
> 
> Enjoy and be sure to let me know if there is any way you would like me to use in the future for any meeting of the old squad!

The lunch bell rang and I was first out of the door, but Eliza still beat me to get to Marley. I sigh loudly and turn the other way. That's been going on for weeks now, I'm first out the door, first on to the playground but she always beats me to get to the slimy kid.

That's when my eyes meet up with Marley's. I shake my head and turn the other way to see that Eliza is in fact alone, probably waiting for Dickens to show up.

Marley stops dead in his tracks and even from a distance, I can see him swallow deeply. I smile and wave at him and he slowly waves back.

I quickly go over and push him, gently so he doesn't fall over, but hard enough for him to know he isn't under clear protection from my sister.

"Why are you like this?" He asks, speaking up for himself suddenly.

I raise my eyebrows at him. "What are you on about Dickens?" I look down at him.

"Why do you pick on me? Why me?"

"Because your name is easy to make fun of and I know how much you hate it."

He nods, slowly creeping his head into his shirt. "You make fun of my name by calling me the last name of an author in the 19th century?"

"Yeah." I simply reply.

"But why?" He asks.

I shrug, not really sure.

"We used to be friends, Ezra."

I shove him harder, but he doesn't fall down like he usually does. "Your lying! I'd never be friends with a slimy know-it-all like you!"

"Really? You don't remember kindergaten and the first grade? Second grade maybe?"

"That's a lie!" I push him again although he remains on his feet. "Stop lying, or it will get worse!" I threaten, pushing him again.

This time his feet struggle but he stays up. "You used to help me with drawings and helped me with counting when I struggled," I hold off the urge until he finishes his sentence completely. "Who's the smart one now?"

I shove him again, this time harder than the others, he steps back to keep on his feet and he succeeds. I keep shoving him again and again until he's backed against the wall of the school. This is where he takes a step or two forward to get passed me and I shove him to the wall again. After a minute he gets really far forward that when I shove him, his feet trip and he lands on the floor, smashing the side of his face to the concrete pathway.

He sits up immediately and gets up to his feet. There's a small amount of blood trickling from the cut under his eye and a bruise already starting to show up around it. In return, he swings his fist and I duck, his knuckles smashing into the wooden pillar for the separate first grade playground. It doesn't stop him though. He uses his over hand and swings it for me and I miss the timing to duck, his fist hitting the front of my nose.

My hands go up against it and when I take them down, there's blood running between my fingers.

"WHAT THE HELL!" I turn around to see Eliza yelling at us and running toward us.

"He punched me, really hard and now my nose is bleeding!" I shout at her before she begins yelling at me.

"He pushed me to the floor and I hit my head on the floor and I think I've broken my finger." Marley speaks more quietly.

She grabs the back of both our shirts and pushes us into the school and through the long corridor to the nurses office. She knocks on the door and it's less than a second later that the school nurse opens up the door.

Her eyes fall on both Marley and I and she moves out of the way, Eliza shoving us both in angrily.

"What happened?" The nurse asks, giving me a paper towel for my nose, which is still bleeding (no thanks to Dickens next to me).

"I was just going in for my lunch and Marley just started trying to punch me."

"So what happened with your friend's eye and hand?" The nurse asks me.

"I ducked and he hit his hand against the wooden pillar outside the door."

The nurse looked at me with a questionable look on her face. "I'd like to hear it from your friend."

Marley shakes his head. "He started shoving me when I asked why he was picking on me now when we used to be good friends and I ended up against the wall outside the door. He kept pushing me into it everytime I tryed to walk away. I walked forward one time and he pushed me so hard my feet trip and I hit my face on the path."

I scoff. "That didn't happen," I lie.

"I'm sorry, but I usually believe the person who has the injury, and I know a liar when I see one," she glares at me before turning to Marley. She asks for him to turn around and lift up his shirt to see if his back had any marks.

He did what he was told and we saw the minor bruising and scratches on his back.

She writes a few notes down before looking to Eliza. "Did you know of this bullying?" She asks.

Eliza nods. "Yeah."

"How long has it been going on for?"

"At least since the start of this year."

I shake my head. "No, it hasn't been that long. It didn't start in January."

"The school year, dumbass. It started roughly in September." Eliza glares at me before looking sweetly at the nurse.

I turn to the nurse. "Did Marley break my nose?" I ask, changing the subject.

"No, and it's the same for your friend. Your hand isn't broken, just sprained." She shakes her head, looking a me first and then at Dickens.

She stands from her chair and hands me a second paper towel, telling me to throw the first one in the trash. She goes over to the phone on the wall and looks at the chart, mumbling the name of the principal under breath as he finger scans acrost the paper next to the phone. She puts in the number and begins speaking down.

In the meantime, I turn to Dickens and glare at him. "I'll get you back for this."

He glares back at me. "Or will you? You've seen what I can do."

I have a feeling of dread fill my chest as I look away, watching the nurse instead. Did Marley actually just threaten me? And did I actually get scared?

A minute passes and she comes back. She sits in front of us and gives us both a look of _we're-gonna-get-this._ I gulp slightly and in the corner of my eye I see Marley do the same thing.

"Due to the severity of these injurys, and the time period this had been has been going on for, I have contacted the principal and he is going to get your parents to come in after school for a meeting. Please until then, stay away from each other."

* * *

I was sat across from the principal, looking down at the floor whilst waitig for the meeting to start but whilst also trying to make eye contact with anyone in the room. Especially not Mama. Marley was sat to my left, doing exactly the same.

"I apologize for the wait, they should be here any moment." The principal sighs, fiddling with his thumbs.

As if on cue, the door opens. Two voices apologize for being late and they take a seat next to Marley.

The principal moves in his seat and looks down to me and Marley. I raise my head up, Dickens doing the same next to me.

"As you are aware, yesterday there was a fight between your sons that ended up with physical injuries for the both of them -" he looks down at the file the nurse must have given him from yesterday "- Marley has recieved bruising under the eye along with injuries to his back and hand, and Ezra was given a bloody nose," he puts the file down and places his hands together. "Now as a school, we take bullying very seriously and we don't allow this to be permitted on the grounds or anywhere outside of school, for the safety of the children who attend."

His attention is turned to Marley's dad as he buts in.

"If you take it so seriously as you claim, how have you only just stepped in? This has been going on for two months now as verbal bullying, but one punch and you decide that's the string. Do you wait for it to get physical everytime before stepping in? That's surely not giving safety to these kids, right? Wait until they get a punch to the face and then decide _"oh, this is bullying"_ and phone up the parents?"

"Mister Peralta, I can assure you we did not know anything of this until yesterday. The boys have been very quiet about the whole issue."

"But yet my son comes home every single day miserable and complaining about this kid."

"If we do not know anything of the act, we cannot help. Maybe in the future you can tell us before hand if you know and we can stop it before it gets physical like it did yesterday."

"Oh, so you're saying this is my fault? Or my wife's fault? We've taken this issue to the school before and nobody's done anything about this, and now my son can hardly lay on his back properly!" Marley's dad starts to raise his voice.

"Sir, please calm down, or I might have to ask you to leave this office and return once you learn to be civilized."

"Send me out then, but I'm not going to calm down until I've got my voice across."

The principal points to the closed door, staring at Marley's dad. "Go."

His dad scoffs, leaning back in his chair. "You can't tell me what to do."

I see in the corner of my eye that Mama smiles a little before going straight-faced again. I look back down before she can make eye contact with me.

When I look back up, I see the principal angrily staring at Marley's dad, while his dad has a quiet conversation with his mom in their seats. I keep quiet, hiding my laughter and quickly lean into Marley.

"I'm sorry."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be sure to let me know if there is any way you would like me to use in the future for any meeting of the old squad!
> 
> Thanks for reading this chapter and until the next one!


	8. Marley Peralta

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it took so long for an update, I hit a little bit of writers block, but I managed to get around it. I was also working a lot on the Christmas special I posted a few days ago, and someone asked me to write them a story on a different platform. 
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!

_"I'm sorry."_

I feel my hands grip around my finger so hard to stop myself from dreaming, but when my grip loosened, I was still sat in the principal's office, the principal sighing slightly in his seat, Ezra's parents sitting in silence, one of his mom's trying her hardest to hide a smile, while my parents are quietly arguing behind my head.

I look Ezra in the eyes, and a small smile creeps along my face.

"I'm sorry, too."

* * *

After the meeting, (which took like almost two hours) Mom and Dad didn't leave the school, and they waited outside the principal's office. I asked them why but they didn't really answer me, they just looked at each other a few times before pretending as if I hadn't said anything.

Eventually, the door opens and Ezra and his parents step out. Mom and Dad get to their feet, so I obviously copy them, but still unsure of why we were still there. Maybe we are leaving?

Ezra's mom, the one who was hiding a smile, hits my dad's shoulder once the principal had said goodbye to them and had shut the door again. "Jake Peralta, if I live and breathe." She has a small smile on her face.

Dad holds out a hand, but she pushes it away and hugs him. He seems startled at first before hugging her back.

When they pull away, his mom goes toward mine and hugs her too. "And Amy, you look great, the whole classic "mom" look going."

"Thanks?" The phrase comes out like a question.

I speak up. "Who's this?" I ask.

"Oh, Marley, this is my friend Rosa from the academy and from when I was a detective."

She waves to me subtly before turning back to dad. "Anyway, I've got to ask, how stupid do you have to be to speak to the principal like that?" Rosa quickly asks, raising her eyebrows.

"I've got five kids, so very," Dad answers before he yelps out when Mom hits his shoulder. "What was that for?"

"Marley is standing right there." Mom replies, pointing down to me.

Dad quickly changes the subject. "So how have you been? We haven't seen you since you and Alicia got married."

"Yeah, well, we got busy," Rosa replies.

Dad hums with a big smile on his face and Mom hits his shoulder again. "What this time?" He glares at her, hiding a smile.

"Looks like you two haven't changed," Rosa remarks as she crosses her arms over her chest.

Mom and Dad shake their heads and smile with pride.

"Look, we need to get going, we've left Eliza with one of our neighbours, and that can never really go well, but if I give you my number, we need to arrange a meeting, just the four of us." Rosa says, pulling out her phone.

"Can it be five of us?" Dad asks, getting strange looks from the three other adults. "Gina's just moved back to town, and I know how much she'd like to meet up with some ol' pals!"

Rosa and Alicia share a look before nodding. "Yeah, we would need to arrange a babysitter though, but that won't be such a problem."

"You could bring your kids to ours. Leah can look after them. Gina could do the same."

Mom shakes her head. "I already don't like Leah looking after her siblings on her own, let alone our friends kids."

"If Gina does the same, Iggy would be there to help." Dad proposes and Mom still doesn't look impressed. He looks back over to Rosa. "The babysitter idea is a great one."

Everyone nods, including me and Ezra.

"We should really get going now." Alicia cuts in.

Dad nods. "Yeah, we should too, we've left Leah in charge and Marley isn't there to stablize the chaos." He laughs.

* * *

We enter the house, Dad going first, and me at the back in case of a complete meltdown. He goes to switch on the light by the door for it to refuse and stay off. He batters at the switch for a moment before calling out for Leah.

"In the living room!" She calls back.

Dad grabs his phone from his pocket and switches on the flashlight before we all cautiously step through to the living room. Sat in the middle of the room was Cam, clutching her faint torch for dear life. Charlie and Finn were sitting on one of the couches, shining their torches in each others eyes for a second every couple of beats. Leah was standing at the table, fiddling around with a candle.

"What's going on? Why are you mucking around with candles, just turn on the lights." Dad goes over and takes the matches (dad banned lighters to help mom stop stress smoking after Cam was born) from Leah's hands.

"Oh, jeez, thanks, not like we've tried that." Leah angrily says, going over to Cam and picking her up.

Mom and Dad both raise their eyebrows at her in shock. Her facial expressions loosens and she slumps a little. "Sorry, it's been a rough afternoon, thanks to the jackass pair sitting there." She points to the twins.

"What's going on?" Dad asks again, lighting the third candle in the lineup Leah had created.

"Power outage, it's the entire block," Leah sighs, "it's been dark out about half an hour now. Charlie and Finn are not helping the cause."

The twins both look up and shrug their shoulders in defense, before obviously lying about the fact they weren't doing anything.

"How'd Marley's meeting with the _principal_ go?" One of the twins asks, putting in a silly tune of voice at the end.

"Great, they apologized to each other so I think the worst of it is finally over." Mom replies.

"Which reminds me, Leah would you be able to babysit again at some point in the future so we could go for coffee with Ezra's parents?" Dad asks, which makes Leah looks up in disbelief. Before she can say anything, Dad continues. "Marley would be here too, and I'll ask if Gina can drop off Iggy and Ben so you'll have some company."

Leah's face softens again. She nods slowly. "As long as Marley is definitely here this time and that Iggy does come."

"Deal."

* * *

The day eventually arrived, about two weeks after and just a week before Christmas. Mom and dad had synched their day's off as well as Alicia and Rosa, and they were leaving just after lunch. It was the weekend, so all of us were off school.

"Alright, we'll be back in no more than two hours," Dad looks to Leah, "thanks so much again for doing this, Lee-bear." He kisses her forehead slightly and they leave.

As soon as the door was closed, Charlie and Finn looked to Ben and stared at him intently. Ben awkwardly waved at them, which made them both stare back at each other.

"Get along, I don't want any arguments." Leah says, picking Cam up from the floor and slowly making her way into the living room again.

"Who put you in charge?" Finn (I can tell because the twins were wearing different colored shirts today to make it easier for Leah thanks to dad's bickering) sneers.

"Dad, he literally just said _"Listen to Leah, she's in charge"_ ". She does a pretty good impression on dad's voice before leaving us standing in the hall.

Iggy follows, and the twins both turn to Ben again.

"So, how old are you?" Charlie asks.

"Eleven, what about you?"

"Ten." Finn and Charlie respond at the same time.

Ben looks to me and raises his eyebrows.

I go a little shy and whisper, "eight."

He moves a little and notices the scar under my eye from Ezra a couple of weeks ago. "What happened with your eye?"

"I got into a fight at school."

"Sounds brutal." He laughs.

I smile and nod. "Well, he only hurt my hand and scarred under my eye. I punched him right in the nose, caused a nosebleed." I sych myself up and smile widely.

"Don't get too wound up, it didn't cause any damage." Finn butts in.

Ben turns to them both. "Don't worry, I've got a big ass family, I know how to deal with little kids."

"I'll correct you, I am not a little kid."

Charlie walks past me to enter the living room. On the way he pats my shoulder his hand and smiles. "Sure you not." Finn quickly follows, Ben right behind him.

I go into the living room too, finding the fact the twins and Ben had gone into the kitchen. Iggy and Leah were sat on the couch, Cam repeating how many sleeps there was until Christmas Day. I go over and join them, sitting back until my head reached the wall behind the couch.

"What's up, Marley?" Iggy asks.

"Do you guys think I'm a little kid?"

Iggy and Leah share a look before they both shake their heads at me. "No, if anyone's a little kid, it's Cam." Leah laughs.

Cam turns her head from looking at the Christmas Tree and stares stubbornly at Leah. She places her hands on her hips and glares. "I am a big girl!" She declares.

Leah rolls her eyes and looks back to me. "Why are you asking?"

I sigh. "It's just Charlie and Finn and Ben made me seem tiny."

"Well, Charlie and Finn are in a silly mood today, much like most days. You just need to ignore them." Leah tells me. It's not like I've heard that one from Mom, Dad, uncles, aunts, and the of babysitters of the past.

"And Ben has sudden outbursts of these things. He may be being cruel now, but I bet you by the end, you two will be like best friends. It's why he's been tested for loads of different behavioural things recently."

"Has he got anything?" I ask.

Iggy shrugs her shoulders. "Been tested for almost everything and they've all turned out negative, although he's got a follow-up exam for ADHD in the new year because it seemed higher than the others."

"The twins were tested for some anger thing when they were toddlers because they got really violent and mom was worried about Marley, seen as he was like a year old. Turns out they're just evil children." Leah manages to say with a completely straight face, which makes Iggy and me laugh. "What? It's true!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did anyone notice the family thing said by Ben? That means another meeting soon! I won't spoil it, but it will be emotional (well, for one of the characters anyway!) I've said too much, see you in the next chapter!


	9. Nikolaj Boyle

I woke up immediately from a deep slumber, sitting up straight to the sound of squeals or screams coming from the other side of the apartment. Being that this was New York, my mind immediately went to the worst conclusion, so I jumped out of bed, grabbing the baseball bat I kept by the door for good measures. When I arrived in the living room, I was not met by an intruder or murderer, but my Dad happily prancing around the room like an eight-year-old girl.

I put the bat down, resting my weight on the handle as I used it like a third leg. "What the hell was that about?" I ask, glaring at my dad angrily.

"I'm sorry, Nikolaj, it's just Gina text me saying she is coming over this afternoon with a surprise for me!" He squeals happily.

"And that was worth waking the entire of Brooklyn up for?!" I ask, "Kas tev kaiš?"

Dad looks to me, attempting to be stern, but his wide, excited grin doesn't help his cause. "Hey, I know what you just said. I speak Latvian."

"Es tevi ienīstu." I mumble under my breath as I turn around to go back to my room.

"And I know that one, too!" Dad calls after me.

I slam my door shut, throwing the bat down on the floor before slumping back down on my bed and falling asleep again pretty quickly. I go back to college in two days after the Christmas break. I've spent the whole holiday studying. I deserve this sleep.

* * *

It must have been hours later, although it only feels like seconds have actually passed, when I hear another scream from the living room. On instinct, I jump up and grab the bat again, charging into the living room with it ready to swing at someone. Again though, there is no intruder. But my dad excitedly jumping around by the door, I guess waiting for that surprise.

I yell out to him. "Now what?!" He turns to look at me and waves before turning his attention back at the door. "You know what dad, one day, I won't charge to protect you! It's like the boy who cried wolf!" I tried to be as serious as possible, and it comes across that way, but I know I would never actually try not to protect my dad, especially after what happened two years ago. Now that it's just the two of us, I would wanna try to make sure it's not just me in the end.

"I'm sorry, I'm just so excited!"

I sigh but deep down, it's nice that he's so excited to see family again. Gina left years ago, and after she moved, we never heard another word from her. Dad and her stayed in contact, they kinda had to being the fact they were step-siblings and the father to Gina's kids was a Boyle cousin, but they never talked. Until this morning. And the fate of Gina's phone is still unknown, given the fact of my dad's over-texting problem.

I sit down on the couch and look over. "What do you think the surprise is?" I ask, knowing I was riling him up more than he was already.

He shrugs. "I have no idea. I can't wait to see."

"When are they coming?" I wonder, looking over to the clock.

"Gina said about three."

"Dad," I sigh, grasping his attention (not directly so he was looking at me, his eyes were glued to the door, but he was listening), "that's four hours away."

He doesn't move an inch and doesn't respond, so I get up and back to my room. Forget sleeping, he'll probably wake me up again in an hour when he realized it was an hour closer, but I decide to get ready for dad's very highly anticipated surprise.

* * *

The four _grueling_ hours had finally finished, and I could tell dad was getting really excited. I managed to get him away from the door for ten minutes, but I could tell he was keeping the door in the corner of his eye the entire time. He was never out of eyeshot from the door. Ten minutes past three, nothing. Fifteen minutes past three, nothing. Twenty-five minutes past three, still nothing.

By this point, I could tell he was getting disappointed. "Maybe there's some traffic or something? You know, a few days after New Years, people will be wanted to get home, right?" I suggest.

Dad nods slowly, and when's he's not looking (not that he was really anyway), I grab his phone from the coffee table and decide to text Gina. I guess my dad's passcode in one, it being my mom's birthday and text quickly.

_**[15:26pm - Charles (Nikolaj)] Hey where are you? My dad's getting kinda depressed.** _

_**[15:27pm - Gina] who dis then?** _

_**[15:27pm - Charles (Nikolaj)] Nikolaj! Your brother's son.** _

_**[15:27pm - Charles (Nikolaj)] Where are you?** _

_**[15:28pm - Gina] soz! it's not my fault! one of ur dads surprises threw up in the car which made another one of them jump out when we pulled over to have a panic attack on the side of the road. we're now in junior lowe to get clothes for said surprise that threw up. be there asap!** _

_**[15:29pm - Charles (Nikolaj)] Are you bringing kids here?** _

_**[15:29pm - Gina] maybe. see you in a bit.** _

I swallow the lump in my throat. I am not great with kids. The last time I tried to interact with kids was at the last Boyle family Thanksgiving a year ago. Being twenty, I did not know how to interact with the younger kids. It didn't go down well, especially when one of my aunts suddenly asked me to hold her six-month baby while she went and grabbed her older son. Any kids over the age of thirteen I'm fine with because they're technically teenagers. Ages five to twelve is okay, but I'm still a little off with them. And if heaven forbid a child is under the age of five, I just lose everything. By the time I get to the end of the horrible flashback to the family dinner, I see it's been two or so minutes since the conversation with Gina.

After another few minutes, I go and put the phone down and see my dad still patiently waiting by the door.

"Don't fret, they'll be here soon."

"They'll? What do you mean by they'll? Do you know anything?" Dad looks up in curiosity.

I bite on my tongue, knowing I should have just stayed quiet. "Well, maybe. No, I don't! Wait, yes, I do. Kinda. Only a little."

"What do you know?"

I raise one eyebrow in slight fear as I mumble. "It's a surprise?"

Dad nods and goes back to watching the door whilst sat on the bar stool he'd pulled over hours ago (if you were wondering how he's lasted this long watching the door).

Another five, six, seven minutes go by before our heads are both brought out of the silence by a knock at the door. Dad leaps up, the huge grin on his face again as he swings it open. Stood on the other side was aunt Gina with Iggy stood on her left and Ben stood on her right. And as it turns out, the worst dread filled me when my eyes met with the tiny toddler stood in the front.

"Oh, what a cute - baby," I gulp, "how - how old is she?"

"Relax, she isn't mine," Gina responds, not answering my question.

The girl raises her hand, showing four fingers. "I'm four!" She says pridefully.

I gulp again. Under five. Oh, shit.

"If she's not yours, whose is she?" Dad wonders.

Before anyone can answer, a loud voice can be heard running down the hall. "IT'S NOT A RACE!" It's a voice both me and Dad know. We look down the hall to see another child, obviously much older, running down the hall quickly toward our apartment. Then two other ones coming in closely behind.

The three boys all stop abruptly, almost crashing into the toddler. One of the taller ones turns to the two others. "Ha, told you I could beat you both!"

"Finn, if you remember I was in the lead for the longest before you almost tripped me up." The small one complains.

They all catch there breath as Gina yells down the hall to someone else. "Did you let them run up the stairs?"

"It gets them tired! Means they might sleep on the way back. I'm being useful for our own sanity." A man shouts back, the same one who yelled to the three boys earlier.

He comes into the viewpoint of the doorway and smiles at Dad, who didn't seem to be registering any of this right now. "Hey, Charles."

Dad takes a minutes before leaping at the man, hugging him tightly. "Jake-y!" He yells out happily.

* * *

At least an hour later, I'm getting slightly uncomfortable. With Gina, Iggy, and Ben, it's not too much, but we've suddenly got another seven people crammed into a two bedroom, tiny apartment. We've only really been all together in the apartment for fifty-minutes or so because Dad literally hugged Jake for more than ten minutes. But for the last half an hour, the toddler is giving me weird looks from the side. She is quite literally freaking me out.

Iggy is sitting at the kitchen bar with the oldest kid, another girl. I'm not sure on her name, they might have said it, but I was too caught up with the toddler. The two twins were both playing with Ben at the dining room table. The youngest boy and the toddler were playing on their parents phones and were sat down on the floor, resting against the side of the couch.

"So, Niko's in college now." Dad begins up another conversation.

I nod along. "Yeah, final year actually."

"So do you know what career you want to pursue?" Amy wonders.

"Ur no, not really, but I've been studying criminology and psychology since freshman year, so it will probably be something to do with that," I shake my head slowly before adding, "but fun fact, Cagney has been studying general engineering because of you guys." I look over to Jake and Amy.

They both look to each other with a confused look before Jake asks, "what did we do?"

"Cagney Jeffords?" I can tell the name isn't really ringing any bells by their still very confused looks. I sigh and try again. "She's got a twin sister named Lacey and a younger sister named Ava." And again there isn't anything. "Terry and Sharon?" I can tell I'm getting closer by their faces, which are trying to remember now where they must have heard the names. "Jake your Ava's godfather." I'm getting pretty annoyed at this point when he still doesn't seem to remember very well. "You guys babysat Cagney and Lacey once and you let them play with the windows and you lost Cagney's cow blanket on the way back to Terry's house."

Jake and Amy then both nod, obviously remembering it at that point. Jake then adds, "whoa, I don't think I've seen Terry since Cam's second birthday too."

The last time Dad and Jake had seen each other properly was Camila's (the toddler) second birthday, because a month or so after that Mom died, so obviously Dad was a complete reck for a normal Boyle mourning time (which is about 6 months - a year). As Dad remembers and brings up the birthday party too, I'm taken back two years.

* * *

**_Flashback - Brooklyn, New York, Two Years Ago:_ **

_In New York, the highest ever temperature was 106 degrees, which was recorded on July 9th, 1936. I'm pretty sure today might top that. Even though the average for Brooklyn in June is 89 degrees (thanks to global warming) and that it is only June 1st, the temperature right now is 94, but it feels like 100 plus. Also, did I mention it's only 10:00 am._

_The entire backyard was decorated with streamers along the fences and hanging from the roof of the set-up gazebo we had to quickly set up upon hearing the weather forecast was to worsen through the day, balloons in every corner of the garden and lining the lawn, banners on the back door, fences and almost every wall or solid object Jake could find in the yard. He had even set up a kiddie pool on the other side of the garden for later._

_In my opinion, Jake had seemed to go overboard slightly, given the fact Cam would not remember this in the end. But since Leah's first birthday, the Peralta family always gets friends and their own families here for every birthday that followed._

_Dad had insisted on arriving early this morning. By Mom's definition of early, it usually means ten, eleven, maybe (pushing it here) midday. Dad's definition is completely different. We arrived at the house at 7:04 am, which meant I had to be up at 5 am! Fun fact: the party doesn't start until one this afternoon._

_While playing around with the last set of balloons, a whimper that quickly turned to crying and calling was heard on the baby monitor that Amy had brought down with her and left on the table to keep a listen out for Cam in case she woke up from her nap (they had to push it forward an hour thanks to the party and because the toddler got really grouchy after Jake had apparently woken her up really early)._

_Amy looks up from the bouncy castle Jake had insisted the infant needed. "Ur, Nikolaj, can you grab her?"_

_"What? Why me?" I ask, my voice full of panic._

_"I can't, I'm tied up with this... Jake." She glares to her husband._

_"The kid needs a bouncy castle." He insists._

_"No, she doesn't, she's two." Amy sighs._

_"Well, she can use it. Leah and the boys will use it, Terry's kids will use it."_

_Amy rolls her eyes away from Jake and looks back to me. "Please, Nikolaj."_

_I look around for either one of my parents to see them on the side of the castle. I sigh. "Okay, but I'm gonna bring her straight down here."_

_I turn and Amy calls out at thank you. I rush up the stairs as the cries get louder from the toddlers room begin to fill the house. I stop outside the door, taking a deep breath. As I open the door, Cam's cries stop as she looks to me. I switch the light on, and it takes her eyes a moment to adjust to the light before she grins up to me from the inside of her crib._

_"Nico!" She says happily, standing up, it taking her a moment for her to regain her balance._

_I stop in front of her crib, looking down to her. For a two-year old, she was quite small, which is the main reason why they haven't moved her on to a toddler bed just yet. Only because Cam can't climb out of the crib, a mission which had been made by Leah at two years, Charlie at a year-and-a-half, Finn at ten months (he did it once and then didn't do it again at all so they just moved him up when Charlie did), and Marley at twenty-months._

_As I look down, I can't help but smile slightly at the goofy grin on her face from seeing her reflection on the mirror on the other side of the room. She points to her hair, showing of her very messy and long, curly dark brown hair. "Messee." She says through contagious giggles._

_I nod my head. "Yeah, it is messy, isn't it?"_

_She nods in response before slowly reaching her arms up. I look to her in confusion and ask, "what's wrong?"_

_"I go up." She responds._

_I gather that she wants me to pick her up, which I can feel my heart race at the thought of. I slowly reach my arms under hers and begin to pick her up, which makes a grunt escape due to the unexpected weight. It turn to my side and hold her a little like a football, not sure on really how to hold a baby._

_"What are you doing?" A voice makes me turn around quickly to the door, an action that Cam seems to enjoy. I see Leah standing in the doorway, her eyebrows raised at me. "She's not a bomb." She laughs._

_"I - I don't know how to hold her." I respond._

_Leah smiles and enters the room completely. "Give her to me, I'll show you." She takes Cam out of my outstretched arms and places the toddler on her hip with a jump, which makes Cam's goofy grin appear on her face again. "See."_

_I nod my head slightly. "How do you know this? Like how to make her laugh and smile and how to hold her."_

_"I've got three younger brothers, two of which acted like toddlers wishing to be carried until they were six years old. I held Marley when he was a baby, and I've got loads of cousins almost the same age as Cam, thanks to my mom's huge family. And to make her laugh, it's easy. Tickle her under her ribs, she's really ticklish under there."_

_Cam eyes me up, as if she knows what I might do. "Are you sure I won't hurt her?"_

_"No, it's fun, see," she then demonstrates tickling her sister under ribs._

_Cam belts out in laughter, wriggling around to try and stop her older sister, which makes me smile. Leah quickly stops when Cam begins to go down to the floor. "Not that hard. Now you try."_

_I slowly agree, and tickle the toddler slowly, to avoid hurting her. She is much smaller than me, just remember that. She laughs out again, a high-pitched shriek-like laugh that somehow is the cutest noise I have ever heard. I stop when Cam begs me to, which is when she's on the floor._

_Leah smiles to me. "See, your a natural." She then walks out, leaving me alone with the toddler again._

_"I still don't know how to hold her." I sigh, whispering to myself._

_"It's 'kay, I can walk." Cam insists._

_"What about the stairs?" I wonder, seeing that she was getting quite close to the edge of the top step._

_She turns around and smiles. "Watch this, Nico." She sits on the top step and begins sliding her way down. When she reaches the bottom, she looks up to me. "Now you try!"_

_I shake my head. "No, no, I'm okay, I can just walk down. Your mommy and daddy are in the garden."_

_She smiles and runs toward the garden. When I got out there, the smile was still imprinted on her face._

* * *

"And Nikolaj," Amy grabs my attention from the flashback, "since then, Cam has always called us mommy and daddy. She never used to do that, and she says she learnt it from you."

I smile, looking down at the toddler sitting on the floor and looking intently at her father's phone. I'm too caught up in the same curls on her head, and the cheeky grin on her face as she shows her brother her progress on the game to reply. She hadn't changed at all in the past two years. Not one bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brief one at the ending, I just wasn't sure on what to put next. The next chapter might add on this, just a little though. How was this chapter? Be sure to tell me!


	10. Camila Peralta

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The only reason I made Nikolaj's chapter so long was because I thought this one would be short. Well, I underestimated that, didn't I? I just kept writing this one.

"Mr Peralta, thank you for agreeing to see me on such short notice, but we do need to talk about a semi-serious issue that has popped up today," Ms. Rilestone sighs, stepping out of the playpen and into the front lobby where Jake and Camila were sat, "would you please follow me?" She asks.

Jake stands from his seat, pushing Camila in toward the playpen right in front of him, refusing to loose the slight graps on his daughter's shoulder. As they walk through the door, Jake can't help but let his jaw drop at the toddler-sized handprints of paint all over the walls, floor, and ceiling (which god knows how that happened seen as the kids here were all under three feet tall). He widens his eyes and looks to the teacher. "What happened in here?" He wonders.

"Unfortunately, your daughter happened." Ms. Rilestone responds.

Jake shakes his head. "That shouldn't be possible," he defends, "there's marks on the ceiling and Camila is literally the smallest kid here."

"Yes, we are unsure of how she managed to accomplish such a... _hard target_ , but it does show a whole lot of determination in one child," Ms. Rilestone laughs slightly before going serious again, "but we are certain it is her."

Jake looks down to his youngest daughter, who is smiling brightly up at him. He looks sternly to the girl, but her goofy and proud grin doesn't seem to get any smaller, and even looks to get bigger.

"Are you certain there isn't some mistake?" Jake wonders, looking back up to the teacher.

"Sir, you daughter has got paint _on_ her face."

Jake glances down and notices the red paint under his daughter's eye and the side of her nose. He then looks back up to the -now- glaring teacher. "But why was my four-year-old left alone in the room with the paints in the first place?"

"That is unclear. I left to manage a situation in our day-care pen, leaving the older children in the care of one of the other members of staff. During the time I was gone, she must have left for an unknown and unacceptable reason, and for that action, she has been suspended for two weeks, but I do need to issue the same clause for your daughter."

Jake looks at the teacher with wide eyes. "What? Why? That's ridiculous!"

"I have to place this because during her attack on the interior to the building, she managed to get a full puddle of the paint on the floor by the table, causing one of the other children to slip and dislocate his shoulder," Ms. Rilestone sighs as Jake glares down to his daughter, who's grin hadn't disappeared from her face, "I do understand that two weeks is rough for two high-working parents, so I have put her suspension down to a week."

"That isn't much better!" Jake holds back a shout that was beginning to set in the back of his throat. "My wife is a captain of the NYPD, she can't take a week off work because it wouldn't be much help, and I'm going on a stakeout tomorrow for three days."

"I'm sorry, Mr Peralta, but your daughter has caused damage. We will have to paint over the entire room, including the ceiling, due to your child's actions. I understand you have some concerns, but this must be dealt with." She replies as Jake looks to the side, pushing down the anger as far as he could. "Is there anyone she can go to during that time?"

Jake glares at the teacher and slowly nods. "You are so lucky there is now."

* * *

Daddy still isn't happy the next day. I don't know why he isn't, I was quite proud of myself actually. Painting the room was my best ever work. But yet he still seems angry at me about it. And so was Mommy too, because I could hear Mommy and Daddy fighting over it last night from downstairs after they had put me to bed. I had to apologize to my friend this morning for hurting him because I saw him on the way to Daddy's car. I did, and we had a small laugh about how his arm looks funny. It's also funny that he has to have a week off school like me, but yet his daddy doesn't seem angry at him about it.

"Look at me, Camila." Daddy grabs my attention as he kneels down in front of me. He puts my SpongeBob bag on the floor by his feet as he looks crossly at me. "You are going to spend a few nights here, and I'll pick you back up in a few days, okay?"

I nod my head. "But why can't Mommy look after me?"

"Because your Mommy has to work a very important job."

"Why can't Leah look after me then?"

"Because Leah has to go to school."

"But why am I here?"

"Because you broke a kid's arm and did a hundred dollars in property damage, which your mom and I have to pay back to your school, Camila!" Daddy shouts, looking angry at me instead.

I pull my arms to my chest and slouch inwards. I don't answer, afraid he might shout again.

Instead he grabs the bag again tightly and stands up, knocking on the door beside him. Quickly the door opens, showing a very excited man we had seen a few days before.

"Oh, you're here!" He squeals, "I'm so happy you allowed me to do this, Jake-y!" The old man smiles happily.

"I need to thank you more than I did for agreeing to do this last minute, Charles, I appreciate it so much."

Charles looks around the door to face me. He looks slightly confused as he turns back to Daddy. "Is she okay?"

Daddy nods simply. "Yeah, she's fine."

Charles looks to Daddy with a concerned look as daddy tries to pull of the lie. I am certainly not fine. I was just yelled at by my Daddy, for no reason whatsoever. In my opinion, both Mommy and Daddy are looking to the negative side to this. I did an amazing piece of artwork in school, and all they can care about is the damage it caused to the building.

Daddy then hands off my bag to Charles and smiles, the first I had seen since he was told about the painting _"mishap"_. "Everything she needs is in there. Her clothes, a couple of toys, her favourite book; we read it every night before bed, and you _must_ remember to do the voices of the characters. Her inhaler is in there and some pull-ups for bedtime. There are spare clothes and pajamas if the worst comes to worst."

Charles nods. "And... what are her eating habits?" He asks.

Daddy laughs slightly, looking to Charles happily. "I knew you'd ask that, so I've already got an answer: she's very flexible and will eat almost everything you put in front of her, apart from fish. She does _not_ do fish! If you try to feed it to her, she will most likely have a fit, which _will_ last about an hour and will contain kicking and screaming bloody murder, so don't risk it for the sake of your neighbors not calling the cops on you again. She prefers cereal for breakfast but will eat anything else such as eggs or toast, just be warned though that if you do a big meal that early, she might not finish it all. For lunch, just give her anything plain and basic because she won't eat it all if it's large. At dinner is her time to shine, and she will eat all of it and will most likely ask for seconds. Don't give her candy right before bed because she goes really hyper, I learned that the hard way. If she gets peckish between meals, just give her anything simple - like a granola bar or some fruit. But if you wish to be fancy, she does enjoy some homemade croquetas with ham inside, and a couple of those usually fills her up enough to last until the next big meal."

"A large list of things to follow according to food. Is there anything else?" Charles wonders.

"Urr... she usually begins her nightly routine at about seven, which contains washing up, reading a book, tucking her in. You don't have to worry about baths though for two reasons: one is because she will refuse to get in the bath without any of her toys and we didn't bring any with us, and two is because I gave her one this morning, and she'll be good for a few days, which is great news for your bathroom. Just wash her face and hands with a washcloth before bed. Her toothbrush and toothpaste is in her bag, and you _have_ to remember to do it in the morning and at night because she is the unfortunate one who got my crappy teeth. Don't let her persuade you any other way." Daddy laughs.

Charles raises his eyebrows at me before bending down to my level. "Oh, Cam, are you even allowed to have fun with your uncle Charles?"

"You can let her try, but she might do something dumb again." Daddy sighs.

"Oh, come on, Jake-y, she's just a toddler." Charles stands up to look straight at Daddy again.

"God you sound like Amy. I know she's a toddler," he says before glancing his watch. "Oh, I had better be going or I'll be late for the stakeout with Dempsey. Thank you again so much, Charles."

"It's no problem, really."

Daddy gets to his knees again and grips on to my arms. "Bye, Cam, I'll see you in a few days, okay?"

"Okay." I whisper, placing my hand in my mouth.

Daddy laughs and pulls it out. "No, what did we say? That's yucky."

I smile and wipe my hand clean on my shirt, making Daddy smile slightly. He leans forward and kisses my forehead. "I love you, Cam."

"Love you too." I smile.

He stands up and leads me toward Charles. I stand in front of my uncle's legs as we wave goodbye to Daddy as he walks away from the door. When we can't see him any more, Charles leads me into his house and smiles as he closes the door behind him. "Gosh, Cam, what have you got in this bag?" He puts it down by the door as he walks toward the kitchen.

I pull it from the doorway and into the open living room. I unzip it and begin pulling out all my toys from inside, pulling out the book too. Charles comes back over and takes it from my hand.

" _Peraltiago._ " He reads the title and smiles slightly.

"Yeah, it's about a funny man named Johnny and a smart girl named Dora, and it's about how they fall in love." I smile happily.

Charles nods. "Well, that sounds interesting, I can't wait to read it."

I look up to him. "Will you do the voices?" I ask.

"Not as good as your dad, but I'll try." Charles laughs.

* * *

There's a knock at the door, which makes me lift my head up from my drawing. I jump down from the table and run over to the door, beating uncle Charles there. When he opens it, he greets the person on the other side. Once I'm able to see who it is, I hug her quickly, screaming out her name in excitement.

"Hi, Cam." Leah smiles, rubbing her hand on my head. She pushes me away and kneels down in front of me. "How's it been with uncle Charles?"

I nod my head. "It's been great!"

"Really? What have you done?" Leah questions.

"Loads!" I pull her back up and drag her to the table to show her my drawing. "It's not finished yet."

"Well, it's really good." She tells me with a smile.

Without letting go of her hand, I pull her all around, showing her where I had done the different activities. Like cooking in the kitchen, jumping on the bed in uncle Charles' room, watching TV in the living room. I showed her my bedroom, and showed that uncle Charles had read my book last night.

"It sounds like you've had fun." Leah says.

"Are you staying here now?" I ask.

She shakes her head. "No, I'm sorry, Cam, I've got to get back home before the boys get home from school."

"How will you get there?" I wonder.

"I'll take a bus. Mom gave me the money this morning because I said I wanted to come and see you after my day of school."

"Isn't the next bus in ten minutes?" Charles wonders.

Leah faces him and nods. "Yeah," she turns back to me, "which is why I've got to go now."

I shake my head and grab on to her arm. "No, I won't let you go!"

She releases her arm and smiles at me. "I have to Cam, but I promise I'll come and visit you again after school, okay?"

I slowly nod my head. "Okay, but can you bring Coco? I left him at home."

Leah smiles wider and nods her head. "Of course I can."

She kisses my forehead before she goes toward the door. Uncle Charles greets her off and I run over to wave to her as she leaves like Daddy did yesterday.

* * *

Keeping to her word, Leah does show up at the apartment the following day after school. Charles greets her at the door like the previous day, and Camila hugs her legs even tighter as if she hadn't seen her sister in weeks.

"Did you bring Coco?" Camila asks, looking up at her older sister with hope.

Leah nods, which makes the toddler smile brightly and jump around with excitement. Leah takes her backpack off one shoulder and swings it around, opening it up and pulling out the brown stuffed bear the younger on had gotten for her first birthday. One of the eyes had to be stitched up after Finn pulled it out in anger, leaving an X pattern where it's right eye used to be, one of the ears had a hole in the top corner from being chipped under the leg of a table chair and the other ear had it's top half missing from the result of pet-sitting their neighbor's dog while Amy was on a week-long work conference in New Jersey.

Cam quickly grabs the bear from her sister's hand, hugging it to her chest quickly. She thanks Leah over and over again, smiling happily.

"How did you manage to keep the bear in your bag a secret? If I brought a teddy into school in my bag in high school, I would have been hanging on one of the bathroom hooks by my underwear." Charles laughs, looking over at the teenager with curiosity.

"I didn't. I tried to put it in my locker before first period, I even asked Iggy to cover the only visible side to the other people of the school, but this tenth grader saw anyway. He couldn't do anything because Iggy began threatening him, but word must have gotten out because, by the end of the day, people were making fun of me about it." Leah sighs.

"Oh, didn't you speak to someone about it?"

"There's no point. The school's useless and everyone will forget after the weekend. They all have a memory like goldfish." She laughs.

She looks over to her sister, who's showing the bear the large collection of artwork she had accumulated over the past two days. She points over to the door and says, "while she's happy, I should get going."

"Are you sure? You can stay for a drink or something." Charles offers.

She shakes her head. "No, I need to get back home. Thanks for letting me see Cam again."

"Don't thank me, she's your sister, you're allowed to see her."

Charles follows her to the door and waves goodbye. Once the door shuts again, Camila snaps her attention up. "Where's Leah?" She asks.

"She had to go, Cam, but she says she's looking forward to seeing you again tomorrow."

"She's coming back tomorrow?" Cam asks with a huge smile.

Charles shakes his head. "No, you're going home tomorrow."

"I am?"

Charles then smiles and nods. "Yeah, are you excited?"

Cam jumps up. "Yeah!"

* * *

A knock at the door makes all four of the kids jump up from the couch. "Cam's back!" The boys yell as they run to the door, pushing each other around like pinballs. Leah pushes ahead of them and opens up the door, revealing an overly-happy toddler. She runs through and hugs them all one by one, and then all together.

"I missed you, Cam." Marley whispers, smiling at his younger sister.

"We all did." Charlie butts in.

Cam breaks off her huge sibling hug when she sees her father standing away slightly from the chaos that had fallen upon his children. "Daddy!" She yells, running into her father's arms. He picks the petite toddler up and hugs her tightly. "I missed you the most."

"I missed you too." Jake smiles, closing his eyes and he grips on to the toddler.

When he opens his eyes up again, he catches Charles' glistening eyes. "Why are you getting emotional."

"Because that's just a perfect sight." He sniffles.

Jake rolls his eyes and puts his daughter down, who then runs back over to her siblings. They all go into the living room, leaving Jake and Charles alone. "What did you do to her?"

Charles raises his eyebrows. "What do you mean by that?"

"She never hugs her brothers like that."

"Does her brother's let her hug them like that is the real question." Charles mentions.

Jake then nods his head. "Touché."


	11. "Ben" Linetti-Boyle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this update took so long! I knew what I wanted to write in my head, but I just couldn't write it on my computer. Everything I came up with, I hated, so I apologize if the end of this chapter is crappy, I did it quickly because I noticed today how long it had been since I updated and I panicked to finish what I had started ages ago.

While walking home from Dan's house after having spent the afternoon there after school, I approach one of the bus benches to see a familiar figure sitting in the dark. By dark, I don't mean pitch black darkness, but the sun had set, letting go of most of the light that was gifted from it - the street lamps gave an orange tint to the streets anyway. But this bench was pulled away from that and was placed in the wrong place, not allowing any light to it. That's why I wasn't able to put a definitive answer as to who the person was. It couldn't have been mom, because I had just gotten off the phone with her and she was clearly at home because I could hear the TV in the background.

I slowly approach and call out a gentle "hello", gaining their attention.

They turn to face me and that's when I notice it's Iggy.

"Ben? What are you doing here?" She asks, her voice a little shaky. I could also see she was shaking slightly.

She had a hoodie on, which was the same one she always bragged about being really warm. But yet it was February in New York, so it was pretty cold.

"I'm just walking home from Dan's house," I respond before raising my eyebrows at her, "what are you doing sitting on a bench alone right now? I thought you were over at Leah's."

Iggy sighs and looks to the side. "I lied about that."

I move closer and sit down next to her on the bench. "Why?"

"Because I was _going_ to hang out with a guy today from school and I didn't want mom to get mad at me, you know what's she's like." Iggy says as she looks to me again.

I look around the surroundings slightly before gazing back at my older sister. "So, where's the guy?"

"He didn't show up. He stood me up." She responds sadly.

"So why didn't you just go home?" I wonder.

"Are you almost done with the questions?" She asks as I can tell by the look on her face that she's getting agitated.

I nod slowly. "I promise that was my last one," I whisper, "why didn't you though?" I ask again.

She sighs. "I don't know. I guess there was a small part of me that was hopeful he would show up and apologize for being late with a reasonable explanation."

I smile sadly at her before hugging her against her will. After a moment, she gives in and hugs me back. Another moment passes and I break the silence. "Just one more question," I warn her, "do you want to come home with me now?"

It takes her a moment to respond, to which is just a simple nod into my shoulder.

We both stand from the bench and begin walking down the path in silence. Iggy seems to be taking in the surroundings, looking off to the opposite side and toward the houses, so I decided to keep quiet and try not to get too much attention to myself from my sister.

"So what did you do at Dan's?" Iggy asks, breaking the quiet after a block had been walked from where we were.

I turn to Iggy and slowly, hesitantly respond. "Oh, we watched a movie and played a board game with his younger brother and sister before dinner, and then he showed me this magic trick he was learning. It didn't go well." I hold back a laugh as I then recall the trick to Iggy, who also finds Dan's slip up amusing.

We talked the entire way home. Iggy made me swear I wouldn't say anything to anyone about her being stood up, and I promised her I wouldn't. We stopped talking when we reached the apartment door. Mom greeted us both as we walked through the door before asking me how Dan's was and asking Iggy how Leah's was.

I nod and recall everything that had happened before going over to the kitchen for a drink, as I stupidly didn't have one at Dan's. I see mom's glare at Iggy as she goes to sit next to her on the couch.

"Iggy, how was Leah's?" Mom asks again, seen as Iggy had ignored the question the first time.

Iggy slowly nods. "It was okay, her brothers wouldn't stop arguing though." She sighs.

Mom chuckles sarcastically. "Oh, that's funny because I've just got off the phone with Jake, I was just calling to ask when you would be home - you never went there, did you?" Mom raises her eyebrows, making Iggy sink back in her seat.

The room is filled with a silence that I hate. I hate it when any conversation falls to a silence, and I always have to break it. I go toward my room, patting Iggy's shoulders. "Good luck, Iggy."

"Don't get involved, Ben." Mom tells me, looking to me with a gentler expression than she did with Iggy.

Iggy glares up at me. "Do I have to say your full name?"

I widen my eyes. "You wouldn't dare!"

"Oh, I would." Iggy nods.

Mom stops up both before Iggy can say anything else. "This is getting out of hand. Ben go to your room, I need to talk to Iggy in private."

I nod and shuffle toward my bedroom. Before I can close the door, my body seems to take over, not allowing my brain to think it over. I run back into the hallway and at the top of my lungs I yell, "or should you call her The Engima?!" before running back into my room, slamming the door behind me.

From the living room, I can hear Iggy yell my full name back to me, making me wince. I hate hearing that name.

* * *

I approach Charlie and Finn at lunch. They were sitting at one of the benches off the side of the playground, staring out to the elementary school field behind the fence. I sit next to Charlie and break them from their trance. "What are you guys staring at?" I ask.

Charlie looks to me and shakes his head. "Marley, he's playing soccer with that Eliza girl."

"Is he still having issues with Ezra?" I wonder.

"Not since Marley beat the crap out of him." Charlie replies.

Finn being Finn, he has to correct his brother in a spiteful way. "He only gave him a nose bleed, he didn't beat him up."

Charlie glares at his twin brother. "You know when you do that, you sound like mom correcting dad."

"Nuh-uh." Finn whines.

A silence falls upon us, much like it did between mom, Iggy and myself last night. And like before, I have to break it because I can't stand silence, but before I can, Finn breaks it instead.

"Hey, Ben," he begins, turning to me and gaining my attention, "I've been meaning to ask. Is Ben your full name? Cause some people can just be called Ben, but my cousin is and it's short for Benjamin."

I shake my head, refusing to give up to much detail. "Ben's just a nickname for me. I get everyone to call me it though."

"So, is the longer version of your name Benjamin, Benito or something like that?" Finn questions.

"I wish." I mumble, luckily not loud enough for anyone to hear.

"Or, or, or!" Charlie makes his presence known again, "is it short for Benedict or Benvolio? That would be so cool!"

I break their guessing sprees. "I'm gonna stop you now, you don't wanna know my full name, you'll just make fun of me. Everyone else does."

They both hold out their pinkies at the same time. It's creepy how in sync they can be. "We promise not too." They say simultaneously, giving me a shiver down my spine.

I take a deep breath as I feel my heartbeat ringing in my ears. I've only ever told this to two people before. Obviously, my entire family knows my full name, but since I started in kindergarten, I've always been referred to as Ben, as the teachers never knew how to pronounce my name. I told my best friends in the second grade, and the bullying got so back in less than three days - because of it I had to transfer to a different school.

"Ben, what's so hard? We promise we won't make fun of you." Finn speaks up.

I nod and brace myself. After a moment, we fall to a silence and my brain's immediate reaction is to break it, even without thinking about what I was about to say. Before I knew it, the name was gone from my mind and into the air. "My full name is Bendigeidfran Linetti-Boyle."

Charlie and Finn both widen their eyes. "What?!" Finn shouts out, a wide smile wide on his face before he glares back at Charlie.

Charlie takes a deep breath and smiles to me weakly. "Well, that's..." He pauses. And everything goes to black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry about the ending! I didn't think about it too much, please don't hate me! I promise the next chapter won't take as long!


	12. Finn Peralta

I ran toward the first teacher I could see while Charlie stayed by Ben in case he woke up again. It just so happened the teacher was the sixth-grade teacher, Mister Brown. Ben had told Charlie and me about how great of a teacher Mr. Brown was, and quite frankly I'm looking forward to having him when I'm in the sixth grade. I quickly grab the attention of the teacher as he warns me for running so close to him.

"It's Ben, sir, he's just blanked out." I tell him, trying to catch my breath again.

"Which Ben?" Mr. Brown asks. Guess it's a pretty common name then.

I point over to the bench, where you could just about see Charlie and Ben in the distance. By the looks of things, Ben hasn't come around yet. "Ben Linetti-Boyle... - he's in your class." I respond, wheezing slightly. Before you ask, yes, I have been checked for asthma because my dad has it, and no, I don't have it. I just have really bad endurance for running.

Mr. Brown goes forward, following me quickly as I lead him over to the bench. He takes Ben out of Charlie's grip and stays by him as several other teachers gather around too. He looks up to both Charlie and me after a moment. "Can one of you go and get the nurse."

Charlie looks to me and tells me to go off and do it. I sigh before I agree to get her. I run back into the school and across the entire building to get to the nurse's office. I knocked frantically on the door and she turns around with a smile on her face.

"How can I help you?" She wonders.

"There's been an incident on the playground. Mr. Brown asked me to come and get you."

The nurse stands from her chair and follows me out to the playground, not saying another word to me as we speedwalk down.

By the time we get back down to where Ben was, he had come back around again, obviously confused on what had just happened. He was looking around - it seemed as though he was confused to where he was. Charlie was down by him again, explaining everything.

The nurse ushers Charlie out the way and Ms. West - the eighth-grade teacher - tells us to go and wait somewhere else (she's one of the teachers that nobody really likes that much).

I pull Charlie to the side and we go and sit on the bench on the other side of the playground, watching all the teachers and the nurse around Ben. Finally, we both get a moment to process this.

"What happened back there?" I wonder, my eyes basically glued to the sight on the opposite side of the playground.

Charlie can merely shrug his shoulders. "I'm not sure." He mumbles.

"Is he gonna be okay?" I ask.

"I'm not sure." Charlie repeats.

On the other side of the playground, we see the nurse manage to help Ben stand up before the group of teachers all follow the nurse and Ben back into the school building. We slowly go back over and our attention is caught to Marley and Eliza yelling behind the fence for us. We run over (I don't understand what's with all the running today) to the high, green fence that blocked off the middle school field from the elementary school field.

"What happened there?" Marley asks, whispering over to us to not get caught by one of the teachers.

Charlie and I both shrug our shoulders.

"I'm not sure." Charlie responds, looking blankly over his shoulder back to the school building.

"No idea. He just blanked out all of a sudden." I sigh.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Marley raises one eyebrow.

"I'm not sure." Charlie repeats - yet again.

I turn to him and glare. "Can that not be your answer for everything?" I question, crossing my arms over my chest.

Charlie glares back at me before a weak smile is presented on his face. "I'm not sure."

I take a swing for him with my fist, which he carefully dodges. I decide not to try again as a teacher walks past, glaring at all four of us. He comes over and I swear I hear him tut under his breath.

"What are you four doing, you know the rules, back away from the fence." Mr. Parkinson instructs us. He's the seventh-grade teacher and he has stated several times that he hates kids - which makes all of us question why he became a middle school teacher.

The dumb rule is that middle school students are not allowed to communicate with elementary school students and vice versa. You can see why we believe the school sucks.

Marley and Eliza go back to their soccer game and Charlie and I go back up to the playground to wait and see if the teachers would explain what happened with Ben, and why he just suddenly passed out like that.

* * *

Charlie and I spend the entire bus ride home talking about Ben. Obviously, we didn't see him after lunch - seen as he's the grade above us - but it was weird when we didn't see him at the end of the day. Usually, we meet up outside the school before getting on the bus together, but he never showed up.

When we get home, we can hear Cam yelling in the living room - which can only mean Leah's babysitting. I knock hesitantly and I swear it takes her forever for her to answer the door.

"Where are mom and dad?" Charlie wonders, throwing his bag down by the stairs.

"They're not home yet. Something about an emergency, but they didn't go into much detail."

"Do you think it's a work emergency? Cause that means dad will go into detail at dinner." I question.

Leah shrugs her shoulders. "Like I said, they didn't go into detail. Mom messaged me during lunch and said I had to pick up Cam because something came up."

"Did they say when they were coming back?" I ask.

"Why do you need to know? You trying to throw a party or something?" Leah raises her eyebrows at me.

I shake my head. "No, I'm just curious."

"Well, no, they didn't."

Cam comes up to us. "The party sounds fun!"

"No, we're not throwing a party nor are we going to a party." Leah responds, leading Cam back into the living room.

* * *

It must have been almost six o'clock when we heard the front door open again. Although, as soon as mom and dad got back, Charlie and I knew something was off as they never arrive back at the same time. Dad's shifts can sometimes fall into the middle of the night and mom's can go through to just before her next shift (although that is rare).

Cam is the first one by their feet, as usual. She also happened to be the first one that dashed out of the living room as soon as she heard the front door open.

Dad comes into the living room first, greeting us all with a huge smile.

"Dad! How was work? Was it a good emergency? Will you talk about it over dinner?" Marley asks, pouncing up from the couch.

Dad slows him down. "Hi to you too, buddy." He laughs before looking back into the hallway, where mom was greeting Cam.

She looks back to him with a look we were all familiar with at this point. It was the same look that they shared when they told us about uncle Charles's girlfriend two years ago, and the same look as when they told us about uncle Ray and uncle Kevin.

I look over to Charlie on the other side of the living room as he does the same to me.

Before we can say anything to each other, Dad interrupts us.

"Charlie, Finn, your mom and I need to talk to you two."

Here's the thing, if dad needs to speak to us it means it's probably something non-serious. If mom needs to speak to us, it's more serious but nothing to be too worried about. If both mom and dad need to speak to us, then we might as well say goodbye to our loved ones because we both know we're in for something. But by the looks on their faces, it doesn't seem that good, which is why I am secretly hoping that we are about to be grounded for years.

They take us through to the kitchen and smile at us.

"Don't worry, your not in trouble." Dad reassures.

Charlie beside me blows a sigh of relief, while I let out a groan of complaint.

"Were you hoping to be in trouble?" Mom raises her eyebrows.

I nod slowly as Charlie does the opposite, shaking his head quickly.

Mom and Dad exchange a look before back at us.

They then go on to explain where they had gone and why. They said they had gone to the hospital to be alongside Gina and Ben - because he had been sent there on the school nurse's hunch - and to explain everything to Iggy when she got there after school. They also mentioned about how he was diagnoised with type 1 diabetes, something to which Mom had to go into detail about (but I still don't understand too much about). Dad said it wasn't Ben's fault he got this, and that me and Charlie had to help him with taking his bloods and keeping track of everything he needed to - especially in the next week or so.

After about ten minutes, mom and dad said we could go back to what we were doing, and as we walked back to the living room, Charlie turned to me with his eyebrows raised.

"You really wished we were in trouble?" He asked.

"Hey, I was just worried somebody had died." I respond before pushing in front of him and throwing myself on the empty spot on the couch.

* * *

We had all been sat at the dinner table for five minutes or so and it was silent. It can sometimes be like this, where we all have nothing else to say, or it can be a dinner where everyone has to break in a word edge-wise.

Suddenly the sound of a phone pinging on the other end of the table breaks the silence.

Dad seems to ignore it, making Mom raise her eyebrows.

"Aren't you going to check who it is?" She wonders.

Dad nods. "Yeah, after we've eaten."

Mom tilts her head slightly. "Jake, it could be serious."

"Yeah, Jake." I smile over at dad.

Dad looks back down as Mom rolls her eyes.

"Just check your phone." Leah tells him once it goes off again.

Dad grabs his phone from his pocket and checks whatever was making his phone ping several times. "It's Charles."

"Why's he messaging you?" Mom wonders.

"He's invited us to a party in July." Dad mentions.

Cam whips her head up with a broad smile. She looks to her left at Leah with a smug look. "Ha-ha, told you we had a party!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter to go!


	13. Lacey Jeffords

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so, so, so sorry this took so long, but for ages I was debating how to end the story (which I am ashamed it took me so long to pick one (see the end notes for my second idea, I need your opinion on it)), then I hit some writer's block for a while and decided to focus on my other WIP at the time (The Squad) and then for a short period of time, I completely forgot about this story (I'm awful I know)... then school work caught up with me with the year 11's leaving and me entering the oldest year in the school, and I had my year 10 mock exams last week (which I know I've failed) and it just came to me as I was writing The Squad that I hadn't written on this story in ages, so I procrastinated from that and instead wrote this... so enjoy! :)

I woke up to the sound of Cagney's phone going off on the bunk on top of mine, and after a few seconds, when it hasn't been switched off, I bang against the bottom of her bunk, quietly shouting for her to turn off the alarm.

The memories of the previous night are a blur and I'm unable to make sense of how I got back to the dorm from Kieth and Thomas's party.

Cagney's alarm keeps blaring, so I grudgingly and slowly got out of bed and glanced over to wake her up instead. To my surprise - kind of - she wasn't there.

I call her name a couple of times, and a few moments later, she emerges from the bathroom.

"Yeah?" She asks as if she can't hear her really loud alarm.

"Your alarm has been going off for ages, aren't you going to stop it?" I wonder.

She raises her eyebrows at me before walking past me and grabbing her phone from her bunk before showing it to me. "My alarm went off two hours ago, that's when I woke up."

I questionably stare at her before sitting back down on my bed. "Then I'm hearing things."

"It's because your hungover, sis." Cagney sighs, patting me on the back slightly.

"That's it, I'm never drinking again." I sigh, pressing my fingers to my temples to put some pressure on my banging headache.

Cagney snorts with laughter quietly. "Yeah, good plan, but I give you two weeks." She says as she goes over to the kitchen.

"Shut up." I sneer to her as she walks away.

I watch her go over around the dorm before looking down at the floor. My gaze remains there until it's brought back up by Cagney putting her hands out in front of me, one holding a glass of water and the other holding two painkillers.

"Here. For your headache." She says with a smile.

I return the grin. "Thanks," I say before taking the glass and tablets from her hands and inhaling them as if they were air, "Why are you being nice to me? I thought you'd be taking the piss."

"I did think about it when you came stumbling through the door last night, but I decided not to because it seems really bad." Cagney sighs.

I grimace slightly. "Well, I don't like it, go back to normal."

Just then, the door swings open, exposing Niko with a huge grin on his face. "Hey, did either of you get a message from your dad last night about the event in July?" he asks as he walks in the dorm and slams the door loudly behind him.

"Volume," Cagney mentions, "Someone in here has a hangover." She throws me under the bus, kinda... I think.

"Cags? Did you drink alcohol last night?" Niko wonders, looking really surprised.

"What? No, this dumbass did." Cagney replies, pointing to me.

Niko then goes back to normal. "Oh, well, that must have just been a regular Friday night for you then," he says with no surprise left in his voice, "Anyway, did you guys hear about the thing?"

Cagney nods beside me. "Yeah, my dad sent me a message last night."

I cut in. "What are you weirdos talking about?"

Niko speaks up before Cagney can, excitement leaking out in his voice. "My dad is throwing a party at the end of July and he's invited the entire of the old Nine-Nine squad. We're gonna get to see all of the people that we basically grew up with!" He says, but he might have as well squealed it he seemed so excited.

"We're gonna have to keep Ol' Drinkey here away from any alcohol." Cagney mentions.

"Hey, from what I remember, won't Jake and Amy have like a nine-year-old? I don't think there will be any alcohol." I sigh.

Niko chimes in. "Yeah, they do, as well as a four-year-old, but the party is in a bar."

Cagney hides a smile. "Well, I'll ask dad to borrow his handcuffs from when he was a cop."

"I'm don't know if I want to ask why he still has them." Niko sighs quietly, but loud enough for us to hear.

Cagney eews really loudly in my ear. "Niko! That's gross!"

I turn to Cagney with an angry stare. "Volume," I tell her before looking back to Nikolaj on the other side of me, still standing in the middle of the dorm, "But she's right, that is disgusting."

Niko just shrugs his shoulders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I'm so sorry this took forever. As for the other idea I had, I was thinking about including the party in this chapter, but (eventually) I decided it wouldn't really work as the whole party would be from Lacey's point of view, whereas I was hoping to be able to write from all different perspectives throughout that one... so my question for you is: Would you like to see a separate story for the party from all the kids perspectives? I'm down to writing it if you wanna see it. :)

**Author's Note:**

> So, as of right now, I am going to do one chapter per character. If I don't manage to get it all in by the end of that number, I may add a second chapter for each character. It really does depend on you guys too.
> 
> Comments and Kudos are greatly appreciated! :) it keeps me motivated, and I'm a sucker for feedback on a project, I need to know it is worth my time!


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